


you & i are a symphony

by fabulouslaughter



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, College AU, Dancer Malia, F/F, Human AU, Performing Arts AU, all parings that aren't malira are background, but there are references to sex and curse words through out, nerd Kira, rebel Malia, violinist kira, warnings are posted on each chapter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-31
Updated: 2017-10-22
Packaged: 2018-08-28 03:18:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 22,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8429428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fabulouslaughter/pseuds/fabulouslaughter
Summary: Kira Yukimura can't afford distractions. She especially can't afford Malia Tate, the most dangerous distraction on campus. And yet somehow, Kira can't seem to avoid her.





	1. the way you move is like a full on rainstorm

The world was at it’s most perfect when an orchestra played, all together, swells and dips and sounds and keys all twisting together in impossible ways to create a dazzling symphony. Kira could listen to it all day.

She could play in it for even longer.

Her bow slid expertly across the strings, fingers flying as she kept the fast tempo indicated on the sheet music splayed before her. She had been practicing for hours now and her hands had to be sore, but she never noticed things like that when she was playing.

The song tapered off, and Kira set her violin back down on her desk.

Her roommate, Allison, closed the book she had been reading (or staring vacantly at while she listened to Kira play).

“Play that song enough times yet?” Allison asked.

Kira blushed. She had played that song through at least 15 times just that day. She needed to perfect it before their fall concert at the end of the month.

For a moment she wasn’t sure why Allison put up with her, but then she caught sight of Allison’s drum case in the corner and membered exactly why- she was just as loud and annoying as Kira was.

“I need it to be perfect.” Kira said in explanation, which earned her an eye roll from Allison.

“I’m pretty sure it was perfect ten run-throughs ago.” Allison teased. “Come on, you need a break.”

Break wasn’t really a word in Kira’s vocabulary. Being a straight A student at one of the top performing arts universities, and also a violin prodigy with an obsession with perfection, didn’t come easily.

Kira had set her sights high from a young age. It was all her father’s fault, really. He was the one who had taken her to her first orchestra concert. It was at a concert hall bigger than anything Kira had ever stepped foot in, and the elaborate arches and intricately painted walls had immediately captivated her young mind. But it was the music that had absolutely swept her away. She had fallen in love at practically the first note.

Kira had decided on that very day that she was going to fight her way onto that stage, and she had held onto that dream ever since.

“I still have math homework.” Kira insisted.

“Next week’s math homework.” Allison corrected. “I saw you finish this week’s yesterday.”

Kira gently put her violin back in its case and gently snatched it shut. “If I get my math homework done now, I’ll have more time to practice next week.”

“Do you know what today is?” Allison gestured to the puppy calendar hanging above her bed.

“October 2nd?” Kira asked.

“It’s the fall mixer.” Allison corrected. She checked her watch. “In twenty minutes. You want to go?”

Kira had vaguely been aware of the dance, but she hadn’t bothered to put it on her own calendar. She wasn’t really a school dance person. She wasn’t exactly outgoing, and Allison, her only close friend, who was much more social, tended to ditch Kira as soon as they walked through the door. (Not that Allison purposefully ditched Kira. She always tried to include Kira, but Kira was more comfortable standing awkwardly in the corner then on the dance floor.)

Kira hesitated, but the look Allison gave her told her she didn’t really have a choice. “I don’t have a dress.” Kira tried weakly.

“We share a closet.” Allison shot back. “You own plenty of dresses.” Allison walked across the room and grabbed Kira’s hand, pulling her out of her desk chair. “Come on, we’re going to the dance.”

 

Kira smoothed the skirt of her dress, light blue fabric crinkling between her fingers. Allison had wandered off almost as soon as they got there to go flirt with some dancers, as expected. So Kira stood awkwardly in the corner alone, swaying slowly to the music to blend in.

She watched Allison, who was chatting with a blonde Kira didn’t recognize across the room. When Allison got boring, she continued gazing around the room, searching for someone else she knew.

Two freshmen boys from Kira’s music theory class were hovering by the snack table, but Kira didn’t particularly feel like talking to them. A few older girls who played violin with Kira were laughing by the speakers, but Kira had never really spoken to them before.

Then the gym door swung dramatically open, drawing Kira’s attention, and in walked Malia Tate. Kira had never talked to her, but she had certainly heard of her. Anyone at the school who wasn’t living under a rock had heard of Malia Tate.

Malia Tate, the girl who supposedly never tried, but could out-dance anyone. Malia Tate, who allegedly had so many motor cycle speeding tickets that she should be in jail. Malia Tate, who had supposedly seduced half the girls in the school (and given them a damn good time too).

Kira wasn’t sure how many of the rumors were actually true. For instance, she was willing to believe that Malia once ate two entire pizzas by herself because someone said she couldn’t, but she was certain that the one about Malia being raised by coyotes was false.

Kira could’ve recognized Malia Tate even if she hadn’t seen across the room a few times before. The oversized leather jacket that she wore over a silvery dress that could’ve been mistaken for a slip and the dirty tennis shoes gave her away. The whole ensemble made her look like she didn’t care about anything, which was pretty much the essence of Malia Tate, at least according to the gossip.

Kira watched Malia stride into the room like she owned it, a gorgeous redhead in dazzlingly tight dress at her side. Malia surveyed the room, frowned, and muttered something to the redhead, who rolled her eyes and shoved Malia forward in response. Malia grumbled something back, but let herself be propelled further into the room.

Kira tore her gaze away. She didn’t need to waste any time thinking about Malia Tate, even if there was something intriguing about her. Malia was a disaster waiting to happen, and Kira was happy to keep a very sizeable distance from her.

Allison suddenly swept back into Kira’s view, a cute boy Kira didn’t know following her.

“Kira! There you are!” Allison exclaimed. “This is Scott McCall.” She gestured to her new friend. “Scott, this is Kira, my roommate.”

“Hi.” Kira said shyly, extending her hand.

“Nice to meet you.” Scott said with a warm smile, shaking Kira’s hand. Kira immediately liked him, which wasn’t really surprising. Allison usually had good taste in dates.

“You too.” Kira said. She tried to place Scott’s face. She was almost certain he didn’t play an instrument and he wasn’t in any of her classes. Maybe he was a grade above them. She would have to quiz Allison later.

Allison’s fingers were casually intertwining with Scott’s, which made Scott’s smile grow.

“Do you want to dance?” Scott asked Allison.

“Kira, want to come dance with us?” Allison asked. Kira knew Allison would be nice and include her if she followed them onto the dance floor, but what Allison really wanted to do was dance with Scott. Alone.

“Actually I think I’m going to go to bed early.” Kira said. “I have a lot of homework to do tomorrow.”

Allison didn’t comment on the fact that they’d been at the dance for like half an hour and it was only eight o’clock. Instead, she shot Kira a grin and let Scott lead her onto the dance floor.

Kira watched them for a few minutes, smiling when she caught sight of Allison laughing at something Scott told her. She was happy Allison was dancing with a nice guy, but she was also happy that she could slip out of the dance without resistance. Maybe she would hit the hay early. More likely, she would use the extra time to work on the violin piece she was trying to compose, but either way, she made her exit and headed back for her dorm.

 

As per usual, Kira spent most of her Saturday practicing and doing homework. She had a carefully crafted schedule of switching off between completing an assignment and spending an hour practicing, so that her brain didn’t melt from doing too much of one or the other.

She easily worked through her English essay, read the necessary chapters in her music theory textbook, and finished her history questions. When she was done with all that, she took a quick break to walk to the campus dining hall and grab a sub to go. She didn’t want to sit and eat it in the hall, because she still had a big math test to study for and she wanted to devote the rest of her night to it.

The door to Kira’s dorm room was locked when she got back with her sandwich, which was odd, because she specifically remembered that she forgot to lock it.

Kira knocked on the door. Allison was probably home, and she didn’t want to startle her.

“Just a minute.” Came Allison’s muffled voice. There was some rustling and Kira was pretty sure she heard another voice.

After a few seconds, the door opened a crack and Allison’s flushed face poked out, her hair ruffled and her shirt hanging off one shoulder. “Hi.” Allison said breathlessly.

“Bad time?” Kira asked.

“Sorry?” Allison said. “We can, uh, go somewhere else.”

“Hi Kira!” Scott yelled from somewhere inside the room. “Sorry I invaded your room!”

Kira smiled. “It’s okay. I’ll study somewhere else.” She liked Scott, and Allison was pretty much the best roommate ever, and put up with Kira’s endless violin, so Kira was willing to study in the dorm floor lounge for a few hours. “Can I just get my backpack?”

“I’ll grab it.” Allison said and closed the door. After another moment she reopened the door and held Kira’s backpack out to her. “Thanks a bunch. I’ll text you when it’s safe to return.”

Kira rolled her eyes and took her backpack. “See you in a few hours. Have fun.”

 

Kira could hear the racket coming from the floor lounge halfway down the hallway. When she opened the lounge door, the racket turned into a roar. The lounge was filled to the brim with students, all of whom were talking excitedly and passing around an oversized bag of popcorn.

The big game. Kira felt stupid for not remembering. Beacon University wasn’t exactly an athletic school, considering it was too busy being the state’s premiere performing arts school, but they did have a football team. Usually no one cared about football all that much (concerts and recitals got much bigger turnouts, especially since they were in the lowest possible sports bracket, which they barely qualified for in the first place), but it was the homecoming game, which Kira should have really remembered, since the college equivalent of a homecoming dance had been last night.

Kira stepped back out of the lounge and let the door swing shut behind her. There was no way she was going to get any work done in the lounge tonight. She sighed and headed back to the stairwell, then hesitated. Obviously she couldn’t go back to her room and all the dorm lounges would be just as crowded. She could walk to the library, but it was all the way across campus and would cut into her precious studying time.

As Kira contemplated, she noticed the sign on the wall that said “Roof Access” with an arrow pointing up, and an idea struck her. Normally she didn’t do things like study on the roof, but it would certainly be quiet, and she had always wanted to go up there. It seemed like the best option.

Hopefully her notes wouldn’t blow away.

 

It was less windy than Kira expected when she stepped out onto the roof, which was good, since she hadn’t thought to throw on a jacket. She felt a little safer than expected as well, with the lip around the roof’s edge reaching a pretty comfortable height. Kira thought for a second that the whole scenario would actually work out, but then she realized she wasn’t alone.

The other person on the roof didn’t notice Kira, mostly because she was too busy dancing. Dancing with such grace and passion that all Kira could do was stand and stare at her, barely keeping her mouth from hanging open.

Kira didn’t know a lot about ballet (it had never really interested her until that very moment, though she suddenly wanted to know everything about it), but she knew this girl wasn’t quite perfect. She didn’t hit each pose with the usual stark precision of a trained ballerina, but instead flowed from one position to the other, dancing like there were no rules, nothing to hold her back. It wasn’t that she didn’t have technique. The girl clearly knew what she was doing. She just did it differently.

Kira had thought the world was most perfect when a symphony played. She now realized she had been wrong. No, the world was at its most perfect when this girl danced, twirling and tiptoeing across the roof as if it were her stage.

Music was beautiful, probably the most beautiful thing there was, but this was its own kind of beautiful, a wild, new kind of beautiful that left Kira breathless.

And then the awe faded, because Kira realized exactly whom she was staring at. Of course, who else could it be, who else would be dancing on the roof all by herself on a Saturday night, but Malia Tate, resident disaster waiting to happen.

In that moment, Kira Yukimura knew she was royally screwed.


	2. the day we met was like a hit-and-run

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> s/o to anya aka actuallymollyweasley aka stilestilikeslydia for being my official violin information consultant™ and also generally the best

Malia noticed Kira after a few short minutes, and stopped to give her a once over.

“Enjoying the show?” She asked with a smirk.

Kira’s mouth hung open for a moment, mind racing. She had known Malia Tate was good, but she had never seen her dance. Good wasn’t even the right word to describe it.

But Kira couldn’t focus on that, because she was standing on a rooftop alone with Malia Tate, the most reckless girl in the school, and she couldn’t keep her heart from fluttering. Kira couldn’t let herself be interested in Malia Tate. She couldn’t even let herself be a little bit curious. Kira Yukimura had spent her whole life avoiding distractions, and this was the most dangerous distraction there was.

“Sorry, I didn’t know you were up here.” Kira said quickly, scrambling towards the door, cheeks burning.

“That’s the point.” Malia said casually. If she noticed how flustered Kira was, she didn’t react. “What is it that Erica says? Don’t you get an A on your next test or something?”

“Good luck for a week.” Kira corrected. (Erica Reyes insisted that if you could Malia Tate practicing you had good luck for a week. It was pretty much accepted as a school rule at this point.)

“You’re welcome then.” Malia said. She took a few steps closer to Kira, scrunching up her nose in thought. “Orchestra, right? You play violin or the little violin thing or something.”

Kira was surprised Malia knew who she was. Kira knew all the people who played instruments pretty well, but other majors were beyond her knowledge. She nodded slowly. “Violin. And, uh, I think the other word you’re looking for is viola.”

Malia made a dismissive gesture. “Same difference.”

Kira instinctively wanted to lecture Malia on the importance of the viola and knowing the names of instruments and how it wasn’t really the ‘same difference’, but she didn’t. She was more worried about getting far away from Malia Tate and her perfect body and her sparkling eyes and-

“I’ll just study somewhere else.” Kira said quickly, inching closer to the door.

“Don’t let me scare you away.” Malia backed away a few steps. “Roof’s big enough for two. As long as you don’t tell anyone else you caught me up here. I can only give out so much good luck.”

“I won’t.” Kira responded, and she wouldn’t. If Malia wanted her practice spot to say secret, that wasn’t Kira’s business. “But, uh, I’m going to go.” And then she shoved through the door and into the stairwell before Malia could say anything else.

Unsurprisingly, Malia didn’t follow her, so Kira hurried down the stairs, clutching her books to her chest and trying to make herself forget the feeling of watching Malia Tate dance.

 

Kira spent two days trying to not think about Malia Tate. And she was almost succeeding. She focused on other things. Like Scott and Allison.

In the few days since the dance, Scott and Allison had been almost inseparable, which meant Scott had spent a ridiculous amount of time in Kira and Allison’s dorm. Kira didn’t mind, though. Her initial impression of him had been right- he was a really genuinely good guy, and he had made Kira laugh quite a few times.

The fact that he made Allison happy made Kira happy, and gossiping with Allison about her new relationship constantly was almost enough to get Malia Tate off Kira’s mind. Almost.

And then she ran into Malia in the hallway.

Malia was sitting on a bench tucked away in an alcove off the hallway. As Kira was walking passed, Malia threw a crumpled up piece of paper at the wall, groaned loudly, and sunk down against the bench until her head was on the armrest and her feet were sticking in the air.

Kira should’ve just kept walking, but she knew a student in distress when she saw one, and she couldn’t help but stop. “Need help?” Kira asked, and instantly regretted it, because asking Malia Tate if she needed help with her homework was probably the worst idea ever.

Malia looked up with a frown, before recognition crossed her face. She pointed at Kira. “Viola.” She proclaimed, as if she had actually remembered Kira’s name.

“Violin.” Kira corrected. If she was going to be identified only by the instrument she played, it was at least going to be the correct instrument. (Though, she had to admit, a small part of her was proud that Malia remembered the word ‘viola’).

“I don’t need help.” Malia muttered. “Math just needs to stop being dumb.” She tossed a pen at the wall. “And my teacher needs to stop being an ass.”

Kira raised an eyebrow. She was pretty sure this was her opportunity to walk away and finish forgetting about Malia Tate. But for some reason, instead of continuing on her way, she said, “I’m good at math.”

Malia huffed and lifted her notebook up in Kira’s general direction, which Kira took as an invitation. She picked the notebook from Malia’s hand and glanced over the problems messily copied there.

“Okay.” Kira hesitated. There wasn’t really any room on the bench, so she sat down on the floor next to the bench. “Which problem are you having trouble with?”

Malia turned her head to look at Kira. “All of them.” She pushed herself into a sitting position and patted the bench next to her.

Kira pushed herself up off the floor and sat down next to Malia, setting Malia’s notebook on the bench between them.

“That one in particular.” Malia said, pointing. “It’s extra dumb.”

Kira glanced at the problem. “Okay, so the first step for finding the limit-“

“You plug in the thing.” Malia filled in. “But I plugged in the thing and it was undefined.”

“Oh! You just need to factor it then. Do you have a pencil?” Kira asked.

Malia fished a pencil from her backpack and handed it to Kira.

Kira began factoring the problem on Malia’s paper, talking aloud as she went. “X minus two factors out of both the numerator and denominator, so you can cancel it out. Right?”

Malia nodded. “Okay. So with that gone, you can plug the limit in now and get the answer, right?”

“Yup!”

Malia pointed to another problem. “So you would do the same thing here then?” Kira nodded, which earned her a little smile from Malia, who appeared to be rather satisfied with herself.

“What about the one with the square root on top of the fraction?” Malia asked, indicating another problem.

“Multiply by the conjugate of the numerator over itself.” Kira said, scribbling with the pencil again. “So if the numerator is four minus the square root of x plus five, the conjugate would be four plus the square root of x plus five.”

Malia’s brow furrowed. “So conjugate is a fancy word for you flip the sign so the square root goes away?”

“Yes.”

“Okay.” Malia took the pencil from Kira’s hand, and wrote out some numbers. “Like that?”

Kira nodded.

Malia shoved her stuff haphazardly back into her backpack. “Thanks.” She stood up, slinging her bag over her shoulder. “I’ll pick you up at eight.”

Malia had walked halfway down the hallway before Kira processed what she had said. Kira shot out of her seat and chased Malia down.

“What?”

Malia glanced over her shoulder at Kira. “I said I’ll pick you up at eight.”

“I don’t date.” Kira immediately responded. It wasn’t exactly true. She had certainly had boyfriends before. Well, she had at least had dates. None of her boyfriends ever really lasted beyond the school dance they invited her to or a dinner afterwards, because after that boyfriends morphed into distractions and Kira would put violin before boys any day.

But whether the thing about not dating was true or not, Kira needed an excuse to turn away Malia’s bizarre date invitation, because going on a date with Malia Tate was the last thing Kira would ever do and agreeing to go on a date with Malia would be like diving headfirst into a pit of flames- disastrous, dangerous, and a terrible decision.

“It’s not a date then.” Malia said. “I’m just taking you to dinner. It’s payment. For helping me with math.”

“It’s okay. I was just helping. You don’t have to repay me.” Kira said quickly.

“I don’t like leaving debts unpaid.” Malia responded. “You teach me math, I teach you how to have fun for one night. Totally non-date fun.”

Kira crossed her arms. “I know how to have fun.”

Malia rolled her eyes. “Please, I asked Lydia about you already. Tell me, Ms. straight A student and violin-a-holic, when is the last time you had fun?”

Kira couldn’t even focus on the insane facts that a. Malia had remembered their first encounter at all, and b. Malia had cared enough to find out about her for some reason, because she was too busy being peeved that she apparently had a reputation for not being fun (which was a stupid thing to be peeved about, because if she was being honest with herself, she didn’t exactly have a lot of fun).

“Playing violin is fun.” Kira shot back. It was true. She enjoyed playing violin more than almost anything.

“Doesn’t count if you have to do it for school.” Malia said.

Technically, Kira played violin way more than was actually necessary for school, but she was pretty sure saying that wouldn’t help her case. “I went to the dance.” Only for a few minutes, but Malia wouldn’t know that.

“I was there, and it definitely wasn’t fun.” Malia said. “So, are you going to let me repay your favor or not?” Malia didn’t wait for a response. She just turned around, turned over her shoulder to yell a final “Parking lot outside the dorm! Eight o’clock!” and then disappeared down the hall before Kira could argue again.

 

Kira couldn’t focus for the rest of the afternoon, because she was too busy debating whether she should actually go meet Malia at eight.

Her first thought was the no, she absolutely shouldn’t go meet Malia, because she had already gotten too distracted by Malia, and she needed to focus on violin and her studies and things that were safe and made sense.

But then she reminded herself that she had sort of told Malia she would go, and part of her did want to prove that she could have fun. Plus, if she ignored her, Kira knew she would just get more curious about Malia. She would just stay distracted, because for some weird reason, Kira couldn’t get the dancer out of her head, no matter how hard she was trying. Maybe, just maybe, if Kira spent a few hours with Malia, she could quell her curiosity and get the girl off her mind for good.

And so, Kira found herself wandering out into the dorm parking lot at eight o’clock on the dot, still half convinced that she should run back inside and delve into her music theory paper.

Malia was already in the parking lot, leaning against her motorcycle with a helmet tucked under her arm and a grin on her face. She waved when she caught sight of Kira.

It took Kira a moment to process the fact that Malia was standing with her _motorcycle_ , a motorcycle that she no doubt expected Kira to get on.

“No way” was all Kira could say. Being crazy enough to go to dinner with Malia Tate was one thing, being crazy enough to get on Malia’s motorcycle was a whole new level of insanity.

Malia waved her hand in a dismissive gesture. “It’s safe.” She noticed Kira looked unconvinced and added, “The stuff about the speeding tickets is fake. I’ve only gotten like two, and those were bullshit anyway.”

Kira was still completely unconvinced. “No.” She repeated. Just one speeding ticket was enough to keep Kira away. Actually, even without any speeding tickers, the notion of riding on a metal death trap was enough to keep Kira away.

“You can wear the helmet.” Malia said in another attempt to convince Kira. She tossed the helmet that had been tucked under her arm to Kira and Kira had to fumble to catch it.

“There’s only one helmet?” Kira asked, more put off by the fact that Malia expected one of them to ride helmetless than she was comforted by the gesture.

“I’ll be fine without one.” Malia said.

Kira shook her head. “We’re both going to die.” She muttered under her breath.

Malia rolled her eyes. “Are we going or not?” She seemed to notice that Kira’s mouth was still half hanging open in disbelief, and took a step away from her bike with a sigh. “We can walk.”

Kira tossed the helmet back to Malia and nodded. “I like waking.”

That earned her another eye roll, but Malia started walking anyway, and Kira hurried to catch up to her.

 

It took them almost 30 minutes to walk from campus to Malia’s mystery destination, but Kira didn’t complain. She didn’t really say anything at all for the duration of the walk, and Malia was silent in return.

“Here.” Malia stopped in her tracks in front of a storefront with a neon sign that read “Paisley Street Diner”.

“Do you like pancakes?” Malia asked with a smirk.

Kira thought pancakes were just okay and she was pretty sure they could get them within five minutes of campus, but before she could say either of those things Malia was pushing through the sticky glass doors.

“Two.” Malia said, as soon as they were inside. The hostess took two menus from her stand and led them towards a booth in the back corner.

The booth was upholstered with sparkly red plastic and the table was painted a shiny chrome. Malia climbed into one side of the booth and pushed the menu away from her, picking up the milkshake flavor list instead. Kira slid into the other side and picked up her menu.

The selection was mostly breakfast foods, fairly standard for a diner. Kira glanced over the different omelet options.

“What flavor milkshake do you want?” Malia said. “Careful, there is a wrong answer.”

“I’m just going to have water.” Kira said.

“See, that was a wrong answer.” Malia gave the milkshake list one more look and then set it down. “Blueberry cheesecake or peanut butter swirl?”

“I’ll have vanilla.” Kira said.

Malia shrugged. “Okay, vanilla.”

Kira went back to her menu. Nothing looked particularly appealing, but she wasn’t going to say that in front of Malia. “Why this place?”

Malia opened her menu and gestured to something under ‘pancakes’. “Meat lovers’ pancakes. Only place in the world that serves them.”

Kira was sure that couldn’t be true, and meat lovers’ pancakes sounded disgusting regardless.

The waitress returned. “Are you girls ready to order?”

“Sea salt chocolate milkshake and an order of meat lovers’ pancakes.” Malia said without hesitation, passing her menu over.

The waitress turned to Kira. “Uh,” Kira looked at her menu again. She hadn’t actually decided what she wanted yet.

“She’ll have a vanilla milkshake and chocolate chip pancakes.” Malia cut in.

The waitress looked to Kira for her response, so Kira nodded and shut her menu. Chocolate chip pancakes were as okay as anything else she could’ve ordered. The waitress hurried off.

Malia leaned against the wall and stretched her legs out across the seat. “So how’d you start? With your viola?”

“Violin.” Kira said, even though she was 90% Malia knew exactly what instrument she played and was just trying to screw with her. “And my father was a big classical music person. He kind of rubbed off on me.” Kira smiled, thinking about her father and the way he lit up when he went on about composers or showed Kira a new piece. Of course, he lit up the most when he heard Kira play, which was part of what made it worth it.

Malia looked at Kira like she was waiting for her to say more, so Kira kept going. “He took me to see our city orchestra play when I was really young. And, I, uh, I fell in love.”

“Cute.” Kira couldn’t tell if Malia’s response was sarcastic or not.

“What about you?” Kira asked. “How did you start dancing?”

Malia began picking at her napkin. “That’s not a first non-date kind of story.”

Kira wasn’t a nosy person, but she was a little curious about the non-response. Like most things about her, Malia’s past was pretty much a mystery. Kira had heard that both of her birth parents were felons and half of her adoptive family was dead. Supposedly Malia had been in the car when her mother and sister had been killed, and had barely made it out of the wreck alive. If any of that were true, Kira could see how it would make crappy dinner conversation.

The waitress swung by and deposited two milkshakes on their table. Malia immediately grabbed hers up and took a long sip. Then she held the cup out towards Kira. “Want to try?”

Kira shook her head. “Do you want a sip of mine?” Kira offered, because it seemed polite.

“I don’t need to try a vanilla milkshake.” Malia said, as if that should’ve been obvious. She downed almost half of her own milkshake at a rather alarming rate. “So why violin? And not viola or drums or trumpet or whatever?”

“Well, there are usually multiple violin parts in any given piece, so orchestras usually have a large amount of violinists, professional violinists are some of the highest paid instrumentalists, and violins tend to have the most solos and often the melody.” Kira said matter-of-factly. She shrugged. “My father said if I was going to pursue a an impractical profession, I should at least choose a practical instrument.” There was also the fact that when she had decided she wanted to be in an orchestra, the violin had been the only instrument she actually knew the name of, but she wasn’t going to admit that to Malia.

Malia swirled her straw around in her milkshake. “So I’m supposed to believe that little elementary school you researched instruments with the most solos and highest pay?”

“Actually, I asked my school music teacher.”

Malia laughed. “Okay I’ll believe that.” She shook her head. “I thought you were just going to say that it sounded pretty.”

“It actually sounds kind of squeaky if you don’t play it right.” Kira said. She hesitated for a moment, but then decided to speak up. “Why ballet?” If Kira was going to keep answering Malia’s questions, she at least deserved a few answers. It was only fair.

Malia just shrugged. “It’s pretty.”

Kira waited for her to say more, but when she didn’t offer anything, Kira tried to prompt her. “Why not, like, contemporary dance, or something with less rules?”

That earned her a smirk from Malia. “Because it’s no fun to break the rules if there aren’t any rules to begin with.”

Strangely enough, that actually made a little bit of sense. Kira decided to keep pushing while she was actually getting information. There was something exciting about unraveling the mysteries of the unknowable Malia Tate. “Why the motorcycle?”

Malia stiffened for just a short, barely noticeable moment, and Kira was worried she was going to yell or leave or cry, but she quickly regained her composure. “Because I look like a badass on it.”

The waitress came back, balancing a plate of pancakes in either hand. “Chocolate chip?” She asked, and Kira raised her hand slightly to indicate they were hers. The waitress placed a heaping platter of chocolate chip pancakes that actually looked pretty delicious in front of Kira, and a plate of something that honestly looked absolutely disgusting in front of Malia.

Malia looked thrilled with pile of garbage that was given to her. She smiled at Kira. “Dig in!”

 

It took them just as long to walk back as it had to walk there, but somehow the trek felt shorter.

They didn’t talk much, but about halfway through the walk Kira made the mistake of shivering in a particularly noticeable way, and Malia immediately shrugged her oversized leather jacket off and tossed it at Kira.

“I’m not cold, it doesn’t mean anything, just take it.” Malia had said quickly before Kira could protest, and then she had threatened to just leave the jacket in the middle of the sidewalk if Kira didn’t take it. So Kira had slipped on the jacket, and honestly it had kept her warm, so she was thankful for that.

By the time they got back to their dorm building, Kira’s mind was buzzing. She didn’t know what to say. The night had been weird. Weird, but fun in a way. She briefly considered telling Malia that they should hang out again, but that sounded too much like a date, and she quickly reminded herself that she was supposed to keep her distance from Malia Tate, and that this had just been a one night thing and she needed to make sure that Malia didn’t have any more impact on her life, because that was the last thing Kira needed.

So when they stopped in the parking lot, Kira just said. “Thanks for the jacket.” And began to tug it off.

“Keep it.” Malia said nonchalantly. “It doesn’t fit.”

Before Kira could point out that Malia was taller than her and so if the jacket was big on Malia it would most definitely not fit Kira, Malia disappeared through the dorm door, and Kira was left even more curious about Malia Tate than she had been a few hours ago.


	3. i hear you like a whisper in the corner of my lovesick thoughts

“You have to tell me eventually.” Allison teased, lying across her bed with her head propped up on her elbows.

“No she doesn’t.” Piped up Scott, who was sitting on the floor and leaning against Allison’s bed. He shot Kira a thumbs up.

Allison threw a pillow at Scott. “Come on, what were you really doing the other night? Who were you with?”

Kira kept her eyes on the homework she had spread across her desk. “I wasn’t doing anything.” There was a reason Kira had shoved Malia’s leather jacket in the bottom of her laundry basket. Even if Kira usually told Allison everything, she wasn’t going to tell her about Malia, because Kira wasn’t the kind of person who hung out with Malia Tate, and she was never going to hang out with Malia again, so it didn’t matter anyway.

“Sure you weren’t.” Allison said sarcastically. “You’ve been blushing for the past day.”

Kira raised a self-conscious hand to her cheek. “I haven’t.”

“What’s his name?” Allison asked. She paused for a moment and then added a thoughtful “Or hers?”

Kira was pretty sure that only made her blush more. If Allison knew Kira had been out with a girl, she would be even more interested. Kira didn’t do girls. Well, she hadn’t thought she did girls. And she still didn’t think she did girls, because the thing with Malia hadn’t been a date, and Malia wasn’t her crush or her girlfriend or whatever.

“I was just practicing my violin.” Kira said.

“Really?” Allison sat up and raised an eyebrow at Kira. “Because yesterday when I asked you said you were doing science homework.”

Kira’s eyes went wide. Crap. She couldn’t even keep her own lies straight. She rushed to cover herself. “I did both. It was a long night.”

Allison leaned forward. “Kira and mystery guy sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-“

“I feel like I should go-“ Scott interrupted, getting up.

Allison grabbed at the corner of his shirt. “You don’t have to.”

Scott leaned over and planted a kiss on her forehead, which made Allison smile. “I don’t want to get in the way of your girl talk.” He backed away from Allison. “I’ll call you later.” He added, as Allison pouted at him.

And then Scott backed into Kira’s laundry basket.

And Kira’s laundry basket fell over.

And Kira desperately remembered that she had stashed Malia’s jacket in the bottom of that laundry basket, the contents of which were now spread across the floor.

“I’m sorry!” Scott exclaimed, immediately leaning over to start picking up Kira’s clothes.

“It’s okay.” Kira jumped to her feet, resisting the urge to grab the jacket, which was just peeking out from under one of her dresses. “I can pick it up.” She gently shooed Scott away. “I don’t want you digging through my bras.” She said with a shy smile, hoping that was a good enough excuse.

Apparently it was, because Scott mumbled another apology, blew a kiss to Allison, and scurried out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

Kira hurried to pick up her clothes, trying not to draw attention to the jacket, because Allison would definitely know who that jacket belonged to. Malia wore it all the time, and there was something distinctly Malia about it.

“Wait a minute.” Allison suddenly shot to her feet. “Is that your jacket?”

“What jacket?” Kira asked innocently, shoving the jacket even further under her dress with one hand.

“That jacket you’re very subtly trying to hide.” Allison said. She kneeled next to Kira and pulled the jacket out of Kira’s hand. “This jacket.” Allison examined the jacket, eyes widening. “This is Malia Tate’s jacket.”

“Is it?” Kira tried to deflect the question, even though she knew it was useless.

“I’m 80% sure this is Malia Tate’s jacket.” Allison said. “How did you get Malia Tate’s jacket? Did you steal this?” Allison’s eyes got even wider, if that was even possible, and her mouth almost dropped open as a new possibility crossed her mind. “Wait, is your mystery someone- did you go out with Malia Tate?”

“No.” Kira said quickly. “Definitely not.”

“You went out with Malia Tate.” Allison repeated.

Kira shook her head. “It wasn’t a date-“

“Did you just admit you went out with Malia?” Allison interrupted.

Kira opened her mouth and then shut it, because yeah, she had just admitted that she went out with Malia Tate, even if it was a not date. “It’s not like that-“

“Kira,” Allison said, “Malia Tate is like Taylor Swift in Blank Space-“

Kira stared at her blankly. She was pretty sure she’d only ever heard one Taylor Swift song, and she didn’t remember the title or any of the lyrics. For all the time she spent listening to classical music, Kira wasn’t really up to date on pop music.

Allison rolled her eyes. “I forgot, you’re helpless. Okay, Malia Tate is like Idina Menzel in Rent-“

Kira hadn’t seen Rent since her freshmen year of high school, but she didn’t bother telling Allison. She was pretty sure she got the basic idea- Malia Tate was a whirlwind of danger and broken hearts. “I wasn’t on a date with her.” Kira said. “I’m definitely not dating Malia Tate. I don’t like her that way. I don’t like her at all.” Kira rambled on, desperate to make it clear that there was absolutely nothing going on with Malia, because she absolutely didn’t like Malia at all.

“So how did you get her jacket?” Allison asked.

Kira took a deep breath, then launched into an explanation of the while bizarre night, from helping Malia with her homework to meat lovers’ pancakes to somehow ending up with Malia’s jacket. She ended with “and I’m never going to see her again.”

Allison tapped her fingers on the floor thoughtfully. “She likes you.”

“She doesn’t.” Kira said firmly, because Malia definitely didn’t. “I’m sure she’s out with someone else tonight.” That was a good argument. Malia went through girls almost as fast as she went through pancakes.

Allison seemed to agree. “Maybe. Are you going to give back her jacket?”

Kira hadn’t thought about that. Giving Malia back her jacket would involve seeing her, which was bad, but keeping her jacket could give the idea that it actually meant something. “I’ll leave it in lounge or something.” Kira stood up. “Let’s talk about something else.”

“I can’t believe you went out with Malia Tate and you want me to change the-“ Allison noticed the look Kira was giving her and stopped. “Okay, fine. But if you do see her again, you have to tell me.”

KIra nodded. That was easy to agree to, because it would never happen. “Deal.”

 

The clock seemed to be going slower than usual.

Kira tapped her pencil against her desk quietly, trying to pay attention to what her medieval European history professor was saying.

Usually, Kira loved history. It was her favorite non-music related subject. But she had been off all week. (Well, it felt like she had off all week, even though it was somehow only Tuesday.)

Kira finally snapped to attention when she heard the professor begin talking about their group project. Off or not, Kira still wanted to maintain her stellar grades, and this project was worth a significant portion of her semester grade, and doing well on projects centered around listening carefully to instructions and having a good partner.

The teacher rambled on about the rubric and expectations for a few minutes and then turned away from the whiteboard. “We’ll make this simple,” The professor said in his usual booming voice, “I call on you, you tell me your partner, I write it down. No arguments.”

He began going down the role. “Boyd?”

“I’m with Reyes.” The muscular dancer in the back row responded.

Kira tuned out slightly, glancing around the room. She hated having to choose groups in classes without Allison. She really needed to make more friends.

Considering the teacher was going alphabetically, and Kira was last alphabetically in this class, she probably wasn’t going to get to pick a partner anyway. She silently tried to remember if there was an odd number of people in this class, so that she could figure out if someone was going to be forced to pick her or if she’d be left alone. She wasn’t sure which option she preferred.

Kira listened as the teacher moved passed Māhealani and went onto Martin.

The redhead twirled a piece of her hair around her fingers and said causally “I’ll be working with Kira Yukimura.”

The professor had called out three more names before Kira wrapped her head around the fact that Lydia Martin had just picked her as a partner. Lydia Martin, whom Kira had never talked to in her entire life. Lydia Martin, easily the prettiest girl in the sophomore class and possibly the most popular. Lydia Martin, roommate and best friend of the one and only Malia Tate.

Kira couldn’t begin to fathom why Lydia had chosen her, but she figured Malia must’ve been behind it somehow.

The teacher finished going through the list. “You can have the last two minutes of class to meet with your new partners.”

Before Kira could decide whether to go over to Lydia, Lydia stood up and flounced over to Kira. She leaned over, propping her elbows on Kira’s desk.

“Meet me Friday in the library?” Lydia asked.

“Why did you-“ Kira shook her head. “I have something Friday night-“  
“We’ll meet Friday afternoon then. 4 o’clock okay?” Lydia said, but before Kira could answer, the bell rang.

Lydia stuck a sticky note on Kira’s desk. “Email me if there’s a problem before then.”

And then she was gone.

 

Kira went to the library promptly at 4 o’clock on Friday, even though she was supposed to be going to see a local orchestra play at 6 o’clock, and she really didn’t want to miss it.

Lydia was waiting for her at table, which was already covered in books.

Lydia looked up as Kira took a seat. “Did you get my email about possible topics?”

Kira nodded. She was slightly intimidated by Lydia, and not just because of the Malia factor. Lydia was really damn smart. Like, Kira was smart, but Lydia was genius level smart.

“I can only be here for an hour.” Kira announced. She always put schoolwork before extra-curriculars, but they had plenty of time to do the project, and it wasn’t her fault Lydia hadn’t listened when she’d said she had a conflict. (That’s what Allison had told her when she explained the situation to ask for advice. And then Allison had added that if Kira couldn’t stand up to Lydia, she would march down there herself and tell Lydia that Kira had places to be.) “If that’s okay.” Kira added, because she didn’t want to sound too harsh.

“Okay.” Lydia said. “We can decide on a project and divide up responsibilities today then.”

“Sounds good.” Kira pulled out her laptop and pushed a few books aside to make room for it on the table. “I, uh, liked your proposal about the impact of the Ottonian Dynasty.”

“Great.” Lydia shoved a stack of books towards the middle of the table. “I pulled these on the Holy Roman Empire and medieval Germany. Are you any good with visual aids?” Kira shook her head. “Okay,” Lydia continued, “We can figure out something digital for that.” She flipped open her notebook. “Is there a part of the paper that you want to work on?”

“I’m flexible.” Kira said with a shrug. Lydia continued to look at her expectantly. “I can do some historical background and write bios on all the Ottonian emperors.” Kira suggested.

“Sounds perfect.” Lydia scribbled something down in her notebook.

Kira just watched her for a second. “Why choose me?” The words just tumbled out of her mouth, and she immediately regretted them. She hoped they had been quiet enough that Lydia hadn’t heard.

“You’re smart.” Lydia said simply.

“Then why now?” Kira prodded. She couldn’t help herself.

Lydia looked up from her notebook and pursed her lips. She leaned forward onto her elbows. “When’s the last time you went on a date?”

Well that certainly wasn’t an answer to Kira’s question. “If you’re trying to ask me-“ Kira began.

“I’m not trying to ask you out.” Lydia said before she could finish. “I’m just curious. As a project partner.”

“Senior prom.” Kira answered.

“Boy or girl?”

“Boy.”

“Always?”

Kira bit her lip. “Did Malia put you up to this?”

“No.” Lydia said. “She would never.” Lydia drummed her fingers on the table. “I just wanted to see who you were.”

“Why?” Kira suddenly felt defensive. “I’m not going to see Malia again. And she doesn’t care.”

“She doesn’t.” Lydia confirmed, and Kira wasn’t sure whether she felt relieved or heartbroken. (Though she wasn’t sure why she would feel heartbroken, when clearly she should feel relieved.)

Lydia pulled a book from the pile. “We should get to work.”

 

In the end, Kira spent almost two hours in the library with Lydia (strictly working on the project, no more weird questions were asked), and was almost late to the concert. As it was, she didn’t get a chance to shower, and she did a pretty shitty parking job, but at least she managed to get to her seat before the lights went off.

Her tardiness didn’t bite her in the ass until after the concert, when she rushed out to her crappy parking spot, only to find it empty.

When she saw the empty stretch of street, the first thing that ran through Kira’s mind was confusion, followed quickly by panic. She ran her fingers through her hair, hands beginning to shake.

It took her almost a full minute to notice the sign posted on the side of the road that read “No Parking, Towing Enforced”, and she immediately cursed.

How had she not noticed the sign? Kira shook her head. She had been in such a hurry that she hadn’t even bothered to pay attention.

How could she have been so stupid? Kira had never had her car towed before, because she always parked carefully and legally. She had never even gotten a speeding ticket.

Kira pulled her phone out of her pocket to dial the number on the sign, but when she tried to push the power button, all she got was the stupid flashing picture telling her to plug in her phone. She cursed again.

Kira sunk onto the sidewalk, steadying her breath. She needed to calm down and figure out a plan. She could probably go back inside and borrow a phone from someone at the theater, and then call Allison for a ride, and call the lot in the morning to get her car back.

“Are you okay?” Came a voice out of nowhere, and Kira looked up. She had recognized the voice, but she was still surprised when her eyes landed on Malia Tate. Shit. So much for never talking to Malia again.

For a second, Kira thought Malia was genuinely concerned about her, because Malia looked genuinely concerned about her, but she quickly dismissed that thought, because it was Malia.

“I’m fine.” Kira said.

Malia took in the scene for a second. “Car get towed?”

Kira nodded. “Can I borrow your phone?”

Malia ignored the question. “I’ll give you a ride.” She reached out a hand, and it took Kira a minute to realize Malia was trying to help her up.

Kira took Malia’s hand and got to her feet, brushing dirt off her skirt. “That’s okay.” Kira said. Borrowing Malia’s phone was one thing, but taking a ride from her was too much.

Malia crossed her arms. “How are you going to get back to campus then?”

Kira opened her mouth then shut it. Her plan had been to call Allison, but she would feel bad about making Allison drive all the way out to her when Malia was offering her a ride. But on the other hand, a ride from Malia would no doubt be on Malia’s motorcycle, and Kira didn’t want to die. (Not to mention the fact that she didn’t want to spend alone time with Malia after she had sworn her off forever.)

Then she remembered that Allison was on a date with Scott across town and wouldn’t be back until late, and Kira realized there was no way she could ask Allison to cut short her date just because she was afraid of Malia and her motorcycle.

“Come on.” Malia said and started walking, gesturing for Kira to follow. She turned around when Kira didn’t immediately follow. “Don’t worry, I got a second helmet.” She smirked at Kira and added “Just for you!” with a wink.

Well, the second helmet thing was slightly comforting. Kira bit her lip and followed Malia, only because she really needed a ride (apparently enough to risk her life).

Malia’s bike was parked not far down the street. Malia tossed Kira a helmet, which Kira caught, and then picked up a second one for herself. “See? Two of them. All safe.”

Kira turned the helmet over in her hands.

“You just put it on your head.” Malia instructed sarcastically.

“I know.” Kira said.

“Well,” Malia responded with a smile, “then hop on, grab my waist, and let’s rock and roll.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my tumblr is @maliasass if you want to hear me ramble about this fic all the time
> 
> i love comments with all of my heart


	4. California never felt like home to me until I had you on the open road

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> guys im actually really happy with this chapter which is surprising for me...  
> u should leave comments so i can feel validated™ (please)

Riding on the back of a motorcycle was kind of like flying, only you were afraid you were going to die the entire time and the sky was filled with other people also flying who could crash into you can kill you and the sky was also full of stoplights that you stopped at way too quickly and then you nearly fell off of your flying machine.

At least, that’s how Kira thought of it. Although, she couldn’t really form coherent thoughts because she was too busy holding on to Malia as tightly as she could and trying not to scream.

Kira didn’t even think about how close she was to Malia, but damn, she was close. Her arms were wound around Malia’s waist and her whole body was pressed against Malia’s back. Of course, she was only so close to Malia because she was holding on for dear life.

It was only when they pulled to a skidding stop at a red light that Kira really took it all in. They were so close that Kira could practically feel the outline of Malia’s bra. She was pretty sure her hands were going to leave an indent on Malia’s stomach.

Kira suddenly felt breathless. And not because of the motorcycle. Because Malia’s hair was in Kira’s face and it smelled like sweat and danger and Malia’ shirt was so thin that Kira could feel the warmth of her skin and it all was so much that Kira’s mind was spinning.

And then the light turned green and the motorcycle sped up and the feeling was gone, replaced again by fear.

Kira wasn’t sure what the speed limit was, but she was pretty sure Malia was exceeding it. She hadn’t believed Malia when she claimed she was a safe driver, and she had been right to mistrust her. Malia was definitely not a safe driver. She took all of her turns at full speed and earned herself several honks, all of which she responded to with her middle finger.

Kira was surprised they made it back to the campus alive. On the bright side, they only got caught at two stoplights, so Kira didn’t have to deal with the funky breathless feeling that she didn’t want to think about.

Malia skidded into her usual parking space by their dorm, inches from running into the sidewalk. She slid off the motorcycle with the grace of a dancer, pulled off her helmet and shook out her hair, and then turned to Kira. “You can kiss the ground if you feel the need to.”

Kira made her way off the motorcycle with much less grace, stumbling on one foot as she shifted her weight to the ground. Malia caught her by the elbow with one hand, which was completely unnecessary, and not just because it made Kira’s arm feel weirdly tingly.

Kira pulled off her helmet and handed it back to Malia. Part of her really did want to kiss the ground, because she was simultaneously relieved and amazed that both of them were still alive. Instead, she just shook her head. “I’m never doing that again.”

Malia rolled her eyes. “It’s most intimidating the first time.” She hopped on the sidewalk and began heading towards the dorms. “The first time I tried to drive a motorcycle I almost killed myself.”

Kira expected Malia to just walk off and leave her in the parking lot, as she had done before, but instead Malia waited on the sidewalk and tilted her head towards Kira, clearly waiting for Kira to catch up.

Kira hesitated for a second, but then scurried to catch up with Malia, because really, what else could she do? They walked side by side in silence for a moment.

“Why get on the bike again then?” Kira asked, both because she was curious and because she didn’t want the silence to get awkward.

“Because I’m not a fucking quitter.” Malia said, as if it were obvious.

“But why risk it?” Kira rambled on. “Especially when you-“ Kira fumbled for a way to say “dance like an angel” and ended up with “dance so well.” She didn’t understand Malia. No doubt Malia had put countless hours of work into her dance, just as Kira had with her violin. And with that kind of work, she had to be passionate about her ballet. Kira couldn’t even imagine doing anything to endanger her ability to play violin. Her music was everything. “Don’t you care about your dance?” Kira immediately felt rude for that comment, but Malia didn’t seem to care.

“Would I be here if I didn’t?” Malia said, because apparently she was allergic to just giving straight answers. “But there’s not point in dancing if I let it ruin my life.” She looked over at Kira. “That’s your problem, Viola, you worry too much.”

“Violin.” Kira said quietly, which earned her a smirk.

“Which floor are you on?” Malia asked as they approached the staircase.

Kira fished in her pocket for her room key. “I’m-“ She stopped, finding her pocket empty, and frantically reached into her other pocket. “Damn it.” Kira mumbled as she was hit with the realization that she had left her room key in her car. Her towed car.

Kira tried to mentally calculate when Allison would be back, but she had no idea. It could be hours.

Malia looked at her expectantly.

“My key is in my car.” Kira explained. “I’ll just hang out in the lounge. Thanks for the ride.”

Malia rolled her eyes. “No you won’t. Come on, you can hang out in my room for a few hours.” She noticed the way Kira’s mouth dropped open. “I’m not saying we’re going to have sex. I’m saying you can sit in my room until you can get into your room.”

Before Kira could even answer, Malia pushed open the door to the stairwell and started up the stairs, clearly expecting Kira to follow her.

Kira sighed and hurried after her, because what choice did she really have? She had already let Malia drive her home; there was really no going back now. It wasn’t like they would suddenly start liking each other, and the lounge was always rowdy at night anyway.

They reached Malia’s dorm in a few minutes. There was a sock hanging from the doorknob.

Kira stopped and gestured to the sock with raised eyebrows. She might not have been super experienced in normal college life, but she knew what that meant.

Malia made a dismissive gesture. “Oh, we always keep that there. It keeps other people from knocking.” She unlocked the door. “A plain sock means it’s okay to come in, striped sock means to keep out.” She pushed open the door. “Plus, Lydia went to visit her mom this weekend.”

Kira didn’t comment on how ridiculously complicated their sock system was, because there was no way she was going to get into an argument with Malia Tate, who supposedly once refused to leave a professor’s office for over six hours because he refused to listen to her argument. Instead, Kira just followed Malia inside.

Malia's room was surprisingly well put together. Kira wasn't sure exactly what she had expected Malia's room to look like, but she had expected it to be pretty disastrous.

Right through the dorm door was the standard mini-kitchen in all of the sophomore dorms, stocked with the microwave and mini fridge the school provided. The counter was in the narrow entry hallway, and passed that the room opened to a large rectangle furnished with the two beds and two desks also provided by the school.

It was easy to tell which side of the room was Lydia's and which was Malia's.

Lydia's half was meticulously decorated and completely clean, no books lying around or dirty clothing strewn about. Her bed was bunked high enough that a chic lounge chair and small end table could fit underneath. The chair was a soft pink that perfectly coordinated with throw pillows on her bed. Her desk was neatly organized, with all of her books and binders carefully stacked and a nice bulletin board with personal pictures tacked on hanging above the table. The desk chair, of course, was in line with the color scheme of her bed.

Malia's half of the room was a different story. Her desk was a mess, the entire surface covered in papers and piles of books all about to topple over. Her bed was on the ground and on top of it lay three different blankets, all of different colors and patterns, and a few mismatched pillows. The walls on her side of the room were barely visible behind dozens of varying posters that ranged from lesbian memorabilia to ballet posters to sarcastic quotes.

Malia immediately plopped down on her bed and leaned against the wall. "You can sit." She told Kira, gesturing beside her.

Kira glanced at Malia's desk chair, which was covered in dirty clothes.

Malia rolled her eyes. "You can sit in Lydia's chair." She pointed towards the other side of the room. "She doesn't care."

Kira didn't want to mess up Lydia's pristine decor, but she felt awkward just standing there, so she sat down in the little pink chair, facing towards Malia.

Kira looked down at her hands, twiddling her thumbs. She wasn’t sure what to say. She was in Malia Tate’s room. Malia Tate’s freaking dorm room. Never in her wildest dreams had she imagined sitting in Malia Tate’s dorm room, alone with Malia Tate.

“Do you want coffee or tea?” Malia asked. “There’s a Keurig in the bathroom.”

Kira raised her eyebrows.

Malia shrugged. “We ran out of plugs in here. Don’t worry, it’s not on the toilet.”

“I’m okay.” Kira said. She was going to stay far away from Malia’s toilet coffee.

Malia tapped her feet. “Okay.” She leaned against the wall. “Do you want cold pizza or cheese puffs? I think Lydia has some healthy shit also.”

“I’m okay.” Kira said again. She had never been good at accepting hospitality. Taking food from Malia felt weird.

Malia sat back up. “Okay, let’s play a game then.”

“What game?”

“Would you rather, truth or dare, never have I ever-“ Malia counted off on her fingers. “I don’t care. But I need some way to force you to talk.”

Playing any of those games sounded pretty awful to Kira. She had never really been a party person, so she wasn’t really experienced with party games.

“Alright,” Malia seemed to catch on to the fact that Kira didn’t really know how to respond. She stuck her fingers up. “Never have I ever played the violin. Now you put down a finger and go.”

Kira obliged. She sort of knew how to play never have I ever. She wasn’t a party person, but she’d definitely been to a few slumber parties. “Never have I ever done ballet.” She retorted.

Malia put down her finger. “Never have I ever gotten straight As.”

Kira put her finger down. She pondered for a moment. “Never have I ever… driven a motorcycle.”

Malia put down a finger with an eye roll. “You know the purpose of the game isn’t just to target me.”

Kira was pretty sure Malia was just targeting her, but she didn’t point that out.

“Never have I ever cried while listening to an orchestra.” Malia said.

Kira didn’t put down a finger. Sure, she was a music nerd, but not _that_ much of a music nerd.

“Dang it.” Malia said. “I was pretty sure about that one.”

“Never have I ever drunk alcohol.” Kira said.

“Wow, I feel like you’re judging me.” Malia teased, but she put down one of her fingers. “Not a lot of it.” Malia clarified. “I’m not completely self destructive. Most of the time.”

Malia drummed her fingers on her chin. “Never have I ever kissed a girl.”

Unless every rumor about Malia Tate was ridiculously false, Kira was sure that Malia had kissed a girl. Actually, she was pretty sure Malia had kissed many girls. It took Kira a second to realize what Malia was trying to do.

Kira kept her finger up, because she had honestly never kissed a girl.

After waiting to see what Kira did, Malia put down one of her own fingers. “Poor tactical move on my part.” Malia said jokingly. “I’m not very good at this game.”

Kira was sure Malia had played plenty of games of never have I ever in her life. Obviously she had been trying to size Kira up, just as Lydia had been, which didn’t make any sense, because she was Malia Tate and there were a billion other people that Malia should’ve been spending time on. Why was Malia spending time with her? She probably could have had any girl in the school in her dorm room, doing more than just talking, and yet here she was playing a rather boring game of never have I ever with Kira, who wasn’t even an interesting person.

“Never have I ever invited a stranger into my dorm room.” Kira said, out of curiosity. Maybe Malia would give her an explanation.

Malia raised a hand to her mouth in mock hurt. “God, what do you think of me?” It took her a second. “Oh! You mean you? You’re not a stranger. We’ve talked at least twice.”

“What instrument do I play?” Kira asked in response.

“The cello, obviously.” Malia said, a mischievous twinkle in her eye. Well, at least she didn’t say viola.

“Incorrect. So we’re strangers. Finger down.” Kira commanded, mostly as punishment for Malia refusing to acknowledge that she knew what instrument Kira played.

Malia put her finger down, leaving her with only one hand left. “Are we playing to five or ten?” She didn’t bother waiting for a response. “This is getting old. Board games?”

 

Malia was pretty much as competitive as expected. Kira wasn’t competitive by nature, but something about Malia’s intensity made her more invested. The hours flew by as they went through Malia’s entire board game collection, which was surprisingly extensive. Malia had ridiculously good luck, but Kira was better at strategy games. Malia demanded a rematch on every game that she lost. They played Boggle six times before Malia finally gave up.

When Kira finally looked up at the clock, it was passed midnight.  
“Oh gosh.” Kira mumbled. “When did it get that late?”

Malia was still focused on their ongoing game of Sorry. “It’s your turn.”

Kira went over to her phone, which Malia had plugged into charge for her a few hours ago. There was no way Allison wasn’t home.

The first text on Kira’s phone was from Allison and read “Gonna be really late! Don’t wait up!”

Kira hadn’t told Allison she was locked out of the room, because she didn’t want to worry Allison and make her rush home from a fun night. But now she had no idea what to do.

“Problem?” Malia asked, raising her eyebrow.

“Allison is still out.” Kira muttered. “There’s no way anybody is at the front desk. I wonder if I can get through the lock somehow-“ Kira’s mind was working a mile a minute. This just wasn’t her night.

“Just sleep in Lydia’s bed.” Malia said, turning back to the game. “And again, it’s your turn.”

“I can’t-“ Kira began.  
“She’s gone, I’ll be in a different bed across the room, we’ll both be fully clothed and asleep.” Malia said in quick succession, as if reading Kira’s mind. “You’ll be fine. I’m not going to murder you in your sleep.”

Kira couldn’t think of a valid reason to say no, but was definitely going to think of one. There was no way she was going to spend the night in Malia Tate’s room, even fully clothed in a separate bed. She would rather sleep on the filthy couch in the lounge. Or the floor of the hallway.

Of course, a few weeks ago she had thought she would never talk to Malia Tate, and then she had thought she would never have dinner with Malia Tate, and then she had thought that she would never ever ride on Malia Tate’s motorcycle. And yet she had done all of those things, and then gone into Malia’s room on top of that.

Malia didn’t even seem to notice that Kira was still debating the offer. “I’m going to draw for you.” She announced. “You have a 5, which piece do you want to move?”

Kira was still trying to figure out an excuse to turn Malia down.

“Okay, I’m just going to move the one that’s farthest ahead.” Malia piped up again. “Ooh, I got a sorry! You’re going down!” At Kira’s lack of response, Malia finally looked up. “Alright, what’s the problem? I have sweatpants and a t-shirt that you can wear. I’m pretty sure we even have a spare toothbrush.”

Kira sat back down at the Sorry board, still trying to find a good reason to say no. And then stopped. What was her actual plan if she said no to Malia? Fall asleep on the lounge couch? Kira was pretty sure that plenty of people had banged on that. Plenty of people had probably banged on Lydia’s bed too, but she was also pretty sure that Lydia at least washed her sheets.

“Think of it as a slumber party.” Malia suggested. “Even you have to have been to a slumber party or two.”

A slumber party. Kira could do slumber parties. She just had to not focus on the fact that it was slumber party with Malia Tate.

“Okay.” Kira said. “If you really don’t mind.”

“Of course I don’t.” Malia said without a second thought. “And oh, I’m sending this piece back to start. Suck it, Viola.”

 

The first thing Kira saw when she woke up was Malia Tate across the room. Malia was still asleep, one of her arms hanging off the bed, her mouth hanging open, and her hair all tangled in front of her face. And somehow she still looked beautiful.

Beautiful. It took Kira a moment to realize that she had admitted that Malia was beautiful, at least not explicitly.

But Malia was beautiful. There was no way to deny it. Dangerous and crazy and aggressive and totally out of reach, but still beautiful.

Kira didn’t know how she hadn’t seen it before. Her sparkling eyes, her finely toned muscles, her coy smile. She was just something else. Something Kira couldn’t even fathom. Ethereal.

Lying in Lydia Martin’s bed, wrapped in Malia Tate’s too-big sweat pants and t-shirt, Kira came to a sudden, crushing realization.

A part of Kira, a very small part of her, had a crush on Malia Tate.

Shit.


	5. i'd spend half this morning thinking about the t-shirt you sleep in

There was always something bizarre about waking up in a new setting. It was extra bizarre when that setting was Malia Tate’s dorm room, and Malia Tate was lying only a few feet away. It was extra extra bizarre when you had just realized you had a crush on Malia Tate (a little, totally insignificant one).

Kira pushed herself into a seated position on Lydia Martin’s bed, slightly surprised that a blanket fell off her chest and pooled in her lap as she did.

She had specifically gone to asleep on top of the comforter, so she would disturb Lydia’s bed as little as possible. She didn’t know Lydia that well, but she knew Lydia’s half of the dorm was impeccably clean, and she really didn’t want to piss her off by making a mess.

It only took Kira a moment to realize that the blanket tossed over her was the knit rainbow one that had been on Malia’s bed earlier, and she looked back to Malia. She was pretty sure they had fallen asleep at the same time, and getting up to spread a blanket over someone seemed distinctly un-Malia, but unless Kira had suddenly started sleep walking, that had to be the explanation.

Kira shook her head. Malia was impossible.

She climbed down the ladder of Lydia’s bunked bed slowly, being as quiet as possible, hoping not to wake Malia. It was only half out of politeness; she also didn’t want to have to talk to Malia. She wasn’t sure what she would even say, or if she would be able to say anything. Kira was always awkward around her crushes (even more awkward than she normally was).

Plus, her newfound realization that she liked Malia had convinced her that she needed a strategy to get rid of those feelings. Admitting you had a problem was the first step to solving it, right? Now Kira could move on to the next step. She wasn’t entirely sure what that step was, but she was pretty sure avoiding Malia at absolutely all costs was a good start (as if that had been working for her the past few weeks).

Kira looked down at the loose grey sweatpants and T-shirt reading “All the cool girls are lesbians” that Malia had lent her (she was beginning to wonder if Malia owned any t-shirts that didn’t pronounce her sexuality), and then glanced over to her nice dress from the concert, which was lying in a pile on the floor. She weighed the merits of putting her dress back on. If she stayed in Malia’s clothes, she would have to explain that to Allison. But if she put the dress back on, she’d be significantly less comfortable, and Allison would feel bad that Kira had to sleep in her dress.

Kira tapped her foot. What was she going to tell Allison? The truth? Not about the crush of course, but about the motorcycle and the dorm room and the sweatpants. She probably had to. If she told Allison she had slept on the couch in the lounge, Allison would feel bad, and she couldn’t think of anyone else she could plausibly say she’d stayed with.

Kira sighed quietly and pulled the nice jacket she had been wearing over her ensemble. At least if anyone was out in the dorm (which was unlikely, considering how early it was, and on a Saturday, too), they wouldn’t notice the t-shirt.

Kira fished around Malia’s desk for a sticky note and pen, then left a quick note reading “Thanks! Will wash and return clothes”.

Then she tossed her dress over her arm, and scurried out of the room before Malia could wake up.

 

Allison was still asleep when Kira got back to the dorm, but she had left the door unlocked (with a note reading “sorry!” taped to the wall), so Kira was able to squeeze in. She tossed her dress in her laundry bag, changed into her own jeans and t-shirt, and then tossed Malia’s clothes into the laundry bag too, all while keeping quiet enough that Allison didn’t stir (though Allison was a pretty heavy sleeper, so that wasn’t a hard task).

She grabbed her history textbook then slunk out for the room, laundry bag in hand. She headed straight for the laundry room in the basement of the dorm. It would be empty this time of day, and she wanted to get Malia’s stuff clean so she could be rid of it.

By the time Allison woke up, Kira had laundered Malia’s clothes and folded them neatly in a bag with Malia’s jacket to give to Lydia next time they worked on their project, finished her history reading, and spent a good 15 minutes wondering how Malia’s lips felt (but she could just pretend that last part didn’t happen).

Allison blinked open her eyes slowly, instantly becoming more alert when she saw Kira.

“Kira!” She sat up in her bed. “Last night-“

“Long story. You’re going to have to drive me to pick up my car.” Kira said. Maybe Allison wouldn’t press her for details. “How was your night?”

A smile instantly crossed Allison’s face. “Amazing.”

Kira sat on the edge of Malia’s bed, satisfied with having momentarily diverted attention away from herself. “Details.”

Allison was happy to talk about her dinner with Scott, which turned into dinner and a movie with Scott, which turned into dinner and a movie and looking at the stars with Scott, and so on.

Kira was happy to listen, both because she was genuinely interested in Allison’s life, and because by the time Allison was finished talking, neither of them was thinking about Kira anymore.

Good, if Kira didn’t have to tell Allison about Malia, she wasn’t going to.

Maybe Kira could put this whole Malia thing behind her after all.

 

By the middle of the next week Kira had managed to hand Malia’s clothes to Lydia (who had rolled her eyes, but said she would give them back to Malia) and was doing pretty well at distracting herself. The whole campus was distracted with Halloween coming and Kira was happy to get swept up in it (she figured that if she could ignore her crush for long enough by focusing on other things, it would go away. Yup, that was a good plan).

Kira wasn’t sure why Halloween was such a big deal at Beacon University, but it was. Apparently it had always been. It was school tradition that the staff and all the seniors gave out candy while the other students went trick-or-treating all across campus. Costumes were, of course, expected (and Kira, of course, had no idea what she was going to wear).

By Wednesday, there was a sizeable betting pool going on about what Malia Tate would dress up as for Halloween. Apparently “Playboy bunny” currently had the most money on it, which Kira thought was ridiculous. Sure, Malia was distinctly immodest, but that wasn’t her style.

Kira wasn’t going to put in a bet herself, but when she saw how big the pot was, she couldn’t resist (she did have tuition to pay), and she put five dollars on “biker chick”.

Then all Kira had to worry about was her own costume. She had made the mistake of not getting a costume last Halloween, because she wanted to stay in and read a book instead of trick-or-treating, because trick-or-treating sounded ridiculous, and Allison had refused to let it go for the next six months. So this year, Kira let Allison drag her costume shopping.

Several little costume shops always popped up around campus this time of year, so they didn’t have to go far. Kira quizzed Allison about her costume as they strolled into the first store and were immediately overwhelmed with dozens of thickly packed costume racks that would take hours to go through.

“Are you and Scott doing a couple’s costume?”Kira asked.

Allison shook her head. “We’re surprising each other.”

She began flipping through the rack nearest to them. “Wow, we’re going to need to divide and conquer. What are you thinking?”

Kira shrugged. “What are you thinking?”

“Something badass.” Allison said. “Bonus points if it comes with a fake weapon.”

Kira smiled, rifling through a few flapper dresses. “I think I saw some fake chainmail in the back.”

Allison shook her head. “Too heavy. I need to be a hunter or something.”

“Robin Hood?” Kira suggested.

“Good thought.” Allison pulled a jumpsuit off the rack and held it towards Kira with a wink. “Why don’t you be Catwoman? That would make Malia Tate happy.”

Kira almost yelped. “Malia Tate? Why would that- she doesn’t- what do you think-“ Kira rambled off, trying to form a proper question.

Allison laughed. “Well, that was some reaction. I was just teasing. Is there something I should know?”

Kira shook her head. “No. That was just a weird thing to say. Never mind.” She turned back to the rack of costumes. “And I am definitely not dressing as Catwoman.”

“Whatever you say.” Allison mumbled. “So what do you want to dress up as then? Superhero? Movie character? Animal? There’s a fox suit over here that looks your size.”

Kira shrugged. “I don’t know. What characters are cool these days?”

Allison rolled her eyes. “I forgot how pop-culturally incompetent you are. Why don’t you just dress up as Beethoven?”

“He’s not even one of my three favorite composers.” Kira responded, which probably didn’t help her case for not being pop-culturally incompetent.

“I know.” Allison said. She and Kira had discussed and debated their favorite composers at length. It was side effect of two music nerds living together.

Kira had made it about halfway down her rack, and was still feeling uninspired. “Do you want to be a power ranger?” She asked Allison, holding up a pink power ranger costume. “That would give you a fake weapon.”

They went back and forth for almost a half hour, and then headed back to try on a few costumes. In the end, Allison did end up with a Robin Hood costume, and Kira settled on red medieval looking princess dress, because she didn’t feel like going to another store, and being a princess was as good as anything else. Allison told her she looked pretty, and Kira had a feeling that she was holding back a Malia Tate related retort.

Kira helped Allison find a fake bow and arrows to go with her costume, and then they checked out.

“This is going to be a good Halloween.” Allison announced happily as the strolled back onto the street.

Kira smiled. “Maybe.”

Oh, she had no idea.

 

Kira smoothed her dress in front of the mirror, frowning. She regretted choosing something with a big skirt, because now she had to walk around in it all night. At least she wouldn’t be cold.

“Ready?” Allison, who was decked out in green with a bow slung over her back and little hat, asked. She slung a pillowcase over her arm and tossed another one to Kira.

Kira twirled in front of the mirror one more time. “I guess so.”

“Good. You look gorgeous.” Allison said. She took Kira’s hand and led her out of the room.

Kira followed her.

“What do you think Malia will be wearing?” Allison asked, nudging Kira with a smirk. “I put my money on no costume.”

“I don’t care.” Kira said, which was totally half-true.

“Whatever you say.” Allison teased as they stepped onto the lawn outside the dorm building. She checked her phone. “Oh! Scott’s close.” She turned to Kira. “Do you mind if I run and meet him? I’ll be back in a minute.”

“Of course not.” Kira said. “I’ll be waiting.”

“Be right back!” Allison exclaimed, and then she ran across the lawn.

Kira smiled and leaned against the wall of the dorm building. She wondered what Scott would be wearing. He probably had some amazing clever costume.

Suddenly, a face obscured Kira’s view of the lawn.

Not just any face. Malia Tate’s face. Because of course it was Malia Tate. There didn’t seem to be any way to get rid of her.

“A princess.” Malia said with a grin. “Cute. I was expecting Beethoven.”

“I don’t know why everyone thinks that.” Kira mumbled. She looked over Malia. “What are you supposed to be?”

“You can’t tell?” Malia stepped back to give Kira a better look.

She was wearing a t-shirt printed with the sheet music to Beeethove’s 9th symphony (a t-shirt that Kira happened to own herself) tucked into a pleated skirt, knee-high socks patterned with music notes, piano patterned suspenders and fake glasses. There was a plastic piano toy hanging around her back, and she was holding an inflatable tuba.

“I’m a music major.” Malia said with a smirk. “Obviously.”

Kira resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Well, she wouldn’t be making any money. “I like your tuba.”

Malia pushed her fake glasses up on her nose. “Actually, it’s a trumpet. Don’t underestimate the importance of knowing your woodwind instruments.”

Kira couldn’t resist taking the bait. “That’s a tuba, and-“

“Don’t correct me, Viola. I learned the word woodwind just so I could be a little shit.” Malia said.

Kira shut her mouth, despite the fact that she really wanted to correct Malia, and the fact that it was ridiculous to learn a word only to use it incorrectly. All Kira said was “Your costume is nice.”

“Thanks.” Malia spun in a circle to show it off. “I couldn’t have done it without your shirt.”

“My shirt?” Kira sputtered. She took a closer look at Malia. She had known she owned the shirt Malia was wearing, but she wouldn’t have guessed that Malia had stolen it from her. How had Malia even gotten her shirt? She and Allison kept their dorm locked. Did Malia know how to pick locks?

“Allison gave it to me.” Malia said, as if reading Kira’s mind. “I told her if she could swipe it I’d tell her what my costume was. Get her to buy you dinner sometime, she just came into a bit of money.”

Kira silently cursed Allison. That must’ve the source of all her extra teasing at the costume shop.

Why had Malia even wanted Kira’s t-shirt? Couldn’t she have worn any other t-shirt? Or any other costume, for that matter? Kira briefly wondered if Malia had chosen her costume solely to get a rise out of Kira, but quickly dismissed that idea, because it was beyond ridiculous. She had probably just lost a bet with Lydia or something.

“Don’t worry, you can have it back.” Malia said, mistaking Kira’s confusion for dismay. “I’ll even wash it. Or get Lydia to wash it. She’s better at it than me.”

“It’s okay.” Kira said. “You can keep it.”

Malia raised an eyebrow. “Why would I want it?” She tapped her chin. “You know, you need a tiara.”

“What?” Kira couldn’t keep up with Malia’s sudden subject changes.

“A tiara.” Malia repeated. “You’re a princess, so obviously you need a tiara.”

Kira ran a hand through her hair. She hadn’t even though of wearing a tiara. It hadn’t come with the costume, and she hadn’t really cared. So she just shrugged. “I guess I’m not a very good princess then.”

“Not true.” Malia crossed her arms. “You’re definitely a good princess. I’m going to find you a tiara.”

“What?” Kira said, for what felt like the hundredth time that night. Where was Malia going to find a tiara in the middle of the night on Halloween?

“You’ll see me again.” Malia said, and then as quickly as she had appeared, she was gone.

Kira shook her head, not quite sure what to think. She never quite sure what to think after interacting with Malia Tate. Maybe that was part of whatever was drawing Kira to her. Maybe Kira liked being kept on her toes.

Or maybe Kira was just crazy.

Allison ran back before Kira could think of Malia anymore, a smiling Scott in a wolf-man costume following her.

“You look pretty!” Scott exclaimed when he got close. “Not as pretty as you.” He stage whispered to Allison.

Allison smiled. “Come on, let’s get some candy.”

 

As they went from door to door, accumulating candy bars and admiring (or judging) other people’s costumes, Kira forced Malia Tate out of her mind.

Then, in typical Malia fashion, she popped back up again just as Kira had almost erased her.

Scott and Allison were involved in an intense candy trade when Kira felt a tug on the back of her dress.

She turned around to see Malia, already backing away and gesturing for Kira to follow. Kira hesitated, but she had a feeling Malia would keep bugging her if she didn’t follow, so she mumbled an excuse about going to the bathroom to Allison, who wasn’t really listening, and dashed after Malia.

Malia squeezed in the alley between two of the dorm buildings, and was casually leaning against one of the walls when Kira caught up to her.

Kira looked around, heart beating a little bit faster. “This looks like a great place to murder me.”

Malia smiled. “I guess so. I hope I haven’t shown this spot to any potential serial killers.” She held up a gold circlet that was surprisingly pretty. “I got you a tiara.”

Kira’s mouth dropped open. “Where did you- Please tell me you didn’t steal someone’s tiara.”

Malia dramatically gasped in fake offense. “Who do you think I am?” She twirled the circlet around in her hand. “Don’t worry, I made a deal with a freshman for it.” Kira opened her mouth, but Malia spoke before she could. “Not a prostitution kind of deal, before you even think about it. I just told her I’d help her get a date with this girl she likes. No biggie.”

“I don’t understand.” Kira mumbled. Why was Malia making deals with freshmen to complete Kira’s costume? No way was she _that_ dedicated to Halloween.

Malia handed held the circlet out towards Kira. “No blood diamonds, I promise. You can put it on. It will look great with your dress.”

Kira reluctantly took the circlet. She carefully ran a hand through her hair. Allison had put it up in a fancy bun for her, complete with braids coming down from the top of her head. “I don’t want to mess up my hair.” She said. Allison would be upset. Plus, her hair did look good. “I think I’d need a mirror.”

“I can put it in.” Malia said. “If you want.” She added quickly. “I won’t mess up your hair.”

“Sure.” Kira handed the circlet back to Malia, uncertain.

“I have steady hands.” Malia added with a wink.

Oh, Kira didn’t doubt that. But letting Malia touch her, letting Malia run her hands through her hair, didn’t feel like a good idea. For, uh, reasons (Perhaps the same reasons Kira had followed Malia into a murder alley).

Malia carefully slid the circlet onto Kira’s head, expertly sliding the ends beneath her braids. When she was done, her hands dropped to rest on Kira’s shoulders and hung there for a moment, fingers lightly brushing Kira’s neck. “Perfect.”

“Why?” Kira said quietly, suddenly hyper aware of Malia’s breath on her neck. “Why go get me a tiara, of all the things you could be doing tonight?”

“I saw you,” Malia said, voice oddly soft for her, “and I thought you looked way too perfect to have an incomplete costume. A princess as pretty as you definitely deserves a tiara.”

“Oh.” Was all Kira said for a moment, and then a crazy, completely irrational, totally stupid impulse came over Kira, and she stood up on her tiptoes and for a moment, just a short moment, her lips brushed against Malia’s.

This time it was Malia who said “Oh”.

Kira’s mind immediately snapped back to normal, and her cheeks turned red as her mind whirred. Stupid. What was she doing?

“I, uh-“ Kria didn’t even finish her sentence; she didn’t know what to say. ‘Sorry, I must’ve been possessed by a demon for a minute there’? She turned and ran away, blocking out the “Wait!” Malia called after her.

Double shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> every time someone comments 10 years are added to my life help make me immortal


	6. Now I accidentally know that you're in love with me too

Kira didn’t go up to the roof with the intention of seeing Malia. Really, she didn’t. Kira didn’t want to see Malia.

She hadn’t seen Malia since the kiss. (If it even really counted as a kiss. It had been more of a brief lip brush.) It wasn’t that she was trying to avoid Malia. She was rethinking that policy. But she needed to figure things out before she could talk to Malia again.

Kira didn’t know what she wanted. She hadn’t meant to kiss Malia. She wasn’t even sure why she had kissed Malia. Or how she had gotten the insane courage to kiss Malia, which Kira had to admit was distinctly un-Kira of her. She had never done something that crazy her entire life.

A week before she kissed Malia, Kira hadn’t even known that she liked Malia. Heck, she hadn’t even known that she liked girls.  
And she was embarrassed. She didn’t even know if Malia liked her back. She was pretty sure Malia had been flirting with her, but Malia was a notorious flirt. Just because she flirted with Kira didn’t mean she actually liked her. Malia flirted with half the girls on campus.

And so Kira didn’t go to the roof to talk to Malia, because Kira couldn’t talk to Malia yet. Not until she knew what to say.

It was just that the roof was actually kind of peaceful, especially when Malia wasn’t there. It was certainly quieter than the lounge, and Kira liked the way the breeze tickled her nose. It was a good place to think.

And she needed to think, without Allison or Scott or any of the students crowding the lounge.

She leaned next to the door to the stairwell, her binder spread out across her lap. She wasn’t really planning on doing homework, but for some reason she felt more comfortable with it there. It felt normal. Kira could do normal.

She brushed a piece of hair behind her ear as she doodled music notes on a piece of loose paper. Quarter note. Treble cleft. Eighth note. Eighth notes were her favorite to draw. She liked the little tails.

Kira remembered her dad trying to teach her how to play piano. She had never taken to piano, but she loved learning about the music. Her dad had shown her all the different notes and how they each sounded and how to draw them on a scale. For months she had ignored all her piano sheet music, instead choosing to scribble messy scales on blank paper and then sit at the piano for hours, slowly tapping out notes until she found an order she liked, and then scribbling the notes across her little sheets.

Her composing phase had been short but passionate. Her dad probably still had stacks of her hand written sheet music stashed in their attic somewhere. He had always loved her compositions, but that was mostly just because she was his daughter and he treasured everything she did. Kira shuddered to think what her kindergarten writings sounded like.

Kira’s doodles had barely covered half a page when the door next to her was flung open, so hard that it almost slammed into her.

Kira jumped, her pencil sliding off her binder and rolling somewhere out of reach. She turned to find, no surprise, none other than Malia Tate strolling out of the hastily opened door.

Kira couldn’t help but stare a little, firstly because the last time she had seen Malia they had kissed, and secondly because Malia, in true Malia fashion, was wearing nothing but an oversized t-shirt and not-nearly-opaque-enough tights (and ballet slippers, of course).

It took Malia a minute to even notice Kira was there. She took a few steps and stretched her arms over her head, which caused her t-shirt to ride up enough that Kira could see half of her butt, which didn’t really help with Kira’s staring problem. Then Malia leaned over and reached for her toes, which really made matters even worse.

Kira’s breath caught in her throat, because damn, she was pretty sure Malia could kill a man with her thighs. Every part of the dancer was ridiculously toned.

Apparently Malia heard Kira breathe or caught a peek of her through her legs or something, because at that moment she turned around, raised her eyebrows, and said, “So are you going to run off the roof now?”

Kira wasn’t sure what to say, but, then again, with Malia she never really knew what to say. “No.”

“Good.” Malia casually returned to stretching, as if it wasn’t killing Kira.

Kira glanced back at her binder, doodling a few more notes and trying to focus on something other than Malia.

“So you kissed me.” Malia said after a few moments. Her back was still to Kira and she had placed her hands on the edge of the roof like it was a bar in a studio and not the only barrier between her and falling to her death. She lifted one leg up behind her and then the other, waiting for Kira to answer.

“Sorry.” Was the best response Kira could come up with.

“Don’t be.” Malia said. “I didn’t say it was bad.”

Kira tapped her pencil against her paper nervously. “I didn’t mean it.”

Malia’s toes were pointed towards Kira, but Kira really wished she could see her face. “You didn’t mean to kiss me? It didn’t seem like an accident.”

Kira blushed. It had kind of been an accident, or a lapse in thinking, or something. “It wasn’t exactly an accident. I just mean, it didn’t mean that, uh-“

“That you don’t want to date me?” Malia finished for her. Malia turned around, finally facing Kira. She cleared the distance between them in a few long strides and sat down right in front of Kira. “Hmm?”

Kira wasn’t sure. That’s what she had been trying to say, wasn’t it? She didn’t want to date Malia. Obviously. She didn’t want anything to do with Malia. Right?

“Feel free to answer any second.” Malia said.

Kira bit her lip. “I-“ Did she really want nothing to do with Malia? Her eyes met Malia’s and, for a moment, she wasn’t sure at all.

“Listen,” Malia said, looking more serious than Kira had ever seen her. “I think you’re really cute. Really cute. And I liked kissing you and spending time with you. And I don’t say this to a lot of girls, no matter what everyone thinks, but spending more time with you and kissing you again would be cool, whether it’s dating or whatever. But I’m not gonna spend more time waiting for you to figure yourself out when I could be kissing lots of other pretty girls. I don’t chase people. So here’s the deal: I’ll be back here tonight at- what time is it?”

“Noon.” Kira said quietly.

“I’ll be here at midnight. Maybe.” Malia said. “And if you want to maybe be a thing, you can come up here too. If we’re both up here, then we can try to be together, and if we’re not both here, then I can go back to kissing pretty girls without thinking about you, and you can go back to whatever it is you do.”

Malia didn’t wait for Kira to respond. Instead, she stood back up and wrenched open the door. “Either way,” she added, “I want my practice spot back.” Then she closed the door behind her, leaving Kira alone on the roof with her thoughts.

 

“You’re nervous about something.” Allison announced.

Kira swiveled around in her desk chair to look at Allison, who was lounging on her bed, drumming on her binder.

“I’m not.” Kira insisted, which was totally a lie. How could she not be nervous? It was already five, which meant she had seven hours to decide on Malia’s ultimatum.

“You haven’t turned the page in like ten minutes.” Allison pointed out, and Kira couldn’t really argue with that.

“I’m just distracted.” Kira said, trying to think of a viable explanation. “I’m thinking about going home for Thanksgiving break.”

“Last week you were thrilled about getting to see your parents.”

“I can’t be distracted by my excitement?” Kira defended.

“Not with that frown.” Allison said. “I know your nervous face.”

Kira tapped her pencil against her textbook. “I am distracted.”

“I got that.” Allison shot back. She patted the spot on her bunk beside her. “Tell me what’s up.”

Kira sighed and went to sit next to Allison. “I’m trying to make a decision.”

“Your strong suit.” Allison teased. Decision-making had never been Kira’s forte.

“Alright,” Allison said, “What’s your big decision?”

“I can’t tell you.” Kira responded quickly. Obviously she couldn’t tell Allison. What would Allison think? Malia Tate? Allison would tell Kira she was crazy, which was probably true.

“Okay, then tell me whatever you can.” Allison said.

Kira bit her lip. “I like my life. I’m at a good place right now. I love school and violin, and I’m doing really well. So I definitely shouldn’t do something totally crazy, right?”

“That depends what the crazy think is.” Allison replied. “If it involves leaving this school, then definitely not, because I would be lonely.”

Kira smiled. “It doesn’t.”

“Does it involve drugs, alcohol, tattoos, surgery, or jumping off a bridge?”

Kira shook her head.

“Alright,” Allison said, “then what’s holding you back?”

Kira stopped. What was holding her back? Her sanity. Her focus on her studies and her violin. The fact that Malia Tate was a terrible idea wrapped inside an even worse idea.

“I don’t know” was all she said.

“Well,” Allison asked, “do you want to do the crazy thing? Because it’s unlike you to even consider doing something wild.”

“I don’t know.” Kira repeated. Allison had a point. She wouldn’t even usually consider something like meeting a girl she might possibly like on a rooftop in the middle of the night. What had gotten in to her?

Really, it was all Malia Tate’s fault. Kira’s life had been perfectly good and easy before she’d stumbled upon Malia dancing on the roof. Now nothing made sense.

“Do the thing.” Allison declared.

“What?”

“Do the thing.” She repeated. “Whatever it is, go for it. That’s my official advice.”

“Why?” Kira prodded.

Allison shrugged. “You might regret it if you don’t. If it’s distracting you this much, clearly it’s important to you.” Allison’s phone buzzed in her pocket, and she pulled it out. “My dad’s calling. Mind if I take it?”

Kira shook her head. “Go ahead.”

Allison mouthed ‘thanks’ as she answered the call and strolled out of the room to find some privacy.

Kira flopped down on Allison’s bed, head spinning. She had a feeling that no matter what decision she made, she’d grow to regret it.

 

Kira took the stairs as slowly as possibly, debating turning around after every flight. But she didn’t. She was going to do this. Kira was going to take a risk, even if it killed her.

It was a few minutes after midnight when Kira reached the top of the staircase, but she figured that if Malia had bothered to show up she’d still be waiting.

Kira hesitated again in front of the door to the roof. But hey, she hadn’t walked up all these stairs for nothing.

With a deep breath, Kira pushed open the door, and cold air washed over her. As she stepped into the night, she wished she had thought to bring a jacket.

It was dark outside, and it took Kira a moment to adjust. For a terrifying second, she thought Malia wasn’t there, and god, she felt so stupid and disappointed. Of course Malia wasn’t there. Why would someone like Malia like her?

Then Kira saw something moving, and her disappointment faded into fear as she took a step forward. “Malia?”

Malia stepped into view, a smirk on her face. “You’re here.” She said, and Kira could’ve sworn she sounded relieved.

“Yeah.” Kira said, suddenly finding it hard to breathe. This was it. She couldn’t run away now. What had she gotten herself into?

“So…” Malia said, getting a little closer to Kira.

“So.” Kira replied, her hands beginning to shake. She didn’t know what to say.

Luckily, Malia always did.

In graceful step, she closed the gap between them, and then pressed her lips against Kira’s. Her arms wrapped around Kira’s waist, pulling them ever closer.

Kira’s surprise lasted only a moment, and soon she felt herself melting into Malia. The air seemed to sparkle around them, and Kira wondered if all the boys she’d dated were bad kissers or if Malia was just an amazing one.

In that one perfect moment, Kira didn’t regret anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is dedicated to the wonderful and amazing ray of sunshine known as @lydiastxles on tumblr, who is like 60% of my inspiration for continuing this fic. if you haven’t seen it, pls pls pls check out the absolutely goregous gifset she made for this fic <3


	7. lightning strikes every time she moves

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long time no see

There were only so many things you can say after a life-changing, mind-blowing, world-stopping kiss. So neither of them said anything.

They stood there for a moment, foreheads pressed together, Malia’s arms still wrapped around Kira’s waist.

Kira focused on the slow, steady rhythm of Malia’s breathing, counting inhales and exhales to keep her own head from exploding. Or maybe it was her heart that was about to explode; it was certainly pumping at a million beats per minute.

Eventually, the spell wore off, and Kira’s awkwardness washed back over her. She took a step back from Malia, wringing her hands together. “I, uh, I-“ Kira couldn’t figure out what she was even trying to say, “I wasn’t going to come.”

Malia shrugged, “You’re here, aren’t you?”

Kira nodded. She was. Whatever the consequences be, she was there.

Malia slid down against the door and sat down. She looked up at Kira expectantly, and so Kira sat beside her.

“I was always going to come.” Malia said, so quietly that Kira barely picked it up.

“I like you.” Kira blurted out, and then immediately felt relieved at having finally admitted it out loud and also hugely embarrassed.

“I would hope so.” Malia replied coolly, but Kira could’ve sworn her cheeks turned just a little bit pink, and something about that made Kira feel satisfied.

“Are we-“ Kira fumbled for the words, “A thing? Like, uh, a girlfriend thing?”

Malia’s smirk returned. “Do you want us to be a girlfriend thing?”

Kira was sure her face was the pink one now. “I, uh- Yes? Maybe?” Did Malia Tate even do girlfriends? Sure she did girls, but rumors held that she wasn’t one for relationships. But then again, Kira needed to stop putting so much stock in rumors.

“You know, you’re much better at kissing than talking,” Malia said with a grin. She leaned closer to Kira. “I yes maybe want to be a girlfriend thing too.”

If Kira’s heart had been pumping at a million beats a minute before, it went up to a billion then. She was never going to listen to another rumor.

“I guess that means you’ll go on a second date with me.” Malia said.

“Third.” Kira corrected.

Malia shook her head. “Second. The sleepover was purely platonic and does not count.”

Kira wanted to point out that their first ‘date’ had also been purely platonic, but she was sure Malia had some counterargument for that.

Malia had been slowing inching closer to Kira, so that their shoulders were now pressed together. “I’m sure there’s some crappy horror movies from last month still in theaters,” Malia suggested, “Or I could take you for another spin on my bike. Or I know some bars downtown that-“ Malia stopped, suddenly looking sheepish, “I mean, or we could do something you want to do.”

“I like movies” Kira said, “And, uh, music. And I know a few good cafes.”

“Okay,” Malia nodded, “I can work with that.”

“Okay,” Kira said, warmth flooding her body, “It’s a date then.”

Malia began to absentmindedly trace circle on the back of Kira’s hand. “Just one more thing.”

Kira suddenly felt irrationally tense. Everything had been going well. What could Malia possibly need to say? “Okay” Kira said carefully.

“If you’re going to be my girlfriend, I get to flaunt you,” Malia said, “No lying to your roommate about hanging out with me or giving me back my clothes through Lydia or whatever. Deal?”

Kira hesitated, and instantly felt bad for hesitating. It wasn’t that she was ashamed of Malia, or even really that she was nervous about dating a girl.

Even though Kira wanted to eventually perform in front of thousands of people, she wasn’t exactly comfortable with attention. And dating Malia was going to draw plenty of attention to her.

Malia was already the talk of half the school. If Malia got a steady girlfriend, it would be big news, and then everyone would be staring at Kira and whispering about her behind her back and wondering how she managed to snag Malia Tate.

But letting something as trivial as what other people would think ruin her chances with Malia would be incredibly dumb, and if there was one thing Kira wasn’t, it was dumb.

“Yes” Kira said, “I mean, deal. Yes.”

Malia rolled her eyes, “God, it’s cute when you’re awkward.”

Kira wasn’t sure there was even a proper word to describe how pink her cheeks were. “Thanks?”

Malia wrapped her fingers around Kira’s hand. “Does this mean I can walk you back to your dorm now?”

Kira didn’t even think about the freak out Allison would undoubtedly have. She just grabbed Malia’s hand and said “Of course”.

 

Allison yelled “It’s open,” on Kira’s first knock, and so Kira pushed open the door, one hand still clutching Malia’s.

“Hey,” Allison said, not looking up from whatever homework she was doing on her laptop.

Kira cleared her throat, and Allison looked up, eyes widening when she saw Malia. “Oh, hi Malia. What are you-“ She seemed to notice that they were holding hands, “Oh. Are you-“

Kira was frozen, but Malia had no such qualms. She leaned down and planted a kiss on Kira’s cheek, and then looked straight at Allison and said “Yes”.

Whatever Allison was feeling, she did a good job of hiding it. “Congratulations.”

“Thanks,” Malia said, and then turned back to Kira. “I’ll see you tomorrow? We can talk about that date.”

Kira was finally getting herself together, and was beginning to dread Malia leaving, because she was sure Allison was going to pounce on her the second they were alone. But Allison’s interrogation was inevitable, and Malia was worth it anyway.

Kira leaned up and kissed Malia’s cheek, which felt weird. She was kissing Malia Tate’s cheek, and Malia Tate was letting her, and Allison was watching them without her mouth hanging open.

“I’ll see you tomorrow.” Kira replied.

With one last smile over her shoulder, Malia strode out of the room, shutting the door behind her.

Alone, Kira and Allison looked at each other in silence for a moment, before Allison spoke up.

“So… That’s new.”

Kira shifted from what foot to the other uncomfortably. “Yup. Very new.”

There was another awkward pause, and then Allison turned back to her laptop with a shrug, “Good for you.”

Kira opened her mouth, ready to launch into a harried explanation, but closed it again after processing what Allison had said. “Oh.” She sat down on her bed, wringing her hands. “Good for you? That’s all?”

Allison didn’t turn away from her laptop. “Oh god no. I have a lot of questions. So many. I’m going to need a play by play of how this all went down. Also I’m going to spend the next month telling you how I totally knew this was coming. But you looked like you didn’t want to talk about it right now.”

“Okay-“ Kira began, but Allison kept talking.

“But if you do want to talk about it, please tell me everything right now.”

Kira blushed, “I mean there’s not much-“

“To tell?” Allison finished for her. She closed her laptop and turned to face Kira, resting her elbows on the back of her desk chair, “So are you two official? Have you kissed? Been on a date?”

“I think so, yes, and kind of.” Kira answered all in one breath.

“Alright,” Allison leaned forward so that the front legs of her chair were hovering off the ground, “start from the beginning and tell me everything. No bullshit.”

The beginning? Kira thought about stepping out on the rooftop, and seeing Malia dance, silhouetted in moonlight, as her own heartbeat became faster than she thought possible. That was the beginning.

And so, ignoring the fact that it was almost 1 am, Kira started with the roof and told Allison everything.

 

As soon as Kira made it through her classes the next day, she made a beeline for the line of practice rooms in the music building, and managed to find an empty one, which she happily slipped into, violin in hand.

No matter what was going on in her social life, she could always put aside time for violin. Malia Tate or no Malia Tate, she still had her dreams to worry about.

However, Kira only got to practice for around half an hour before the door was flung open.

“Sorry, I’m already in here-“ Kira began, but stopped when she saw Malia’s face.

Malia strode into the room, sizing it up. “Allison said you’d be here.”

“Yeah, um, just practicing.” Kira said, still trying to figure out what Malia was doing there.

Malia leaned against the piano in the corner of the room. “Play something for me.”

Kira was taken aback. Usually she had no problem in playing in front of people, but Malia, as per usual, was a different story. “You can’t just ask an artist to draw you.”

“Come on, give me something to dance to.” Malia pestered, pulling her leg up in a stretch. “Please?”

Kira bit her lip, drumming her fingers against the music stand in front of her. “Okay, fine. What should I play?” She couldn’t resist the chance to see Malia dance again, and just her stretches were making Kira’s heart beat faster. Plus, she was there practice after all.

“I told you,” Malia responded unhelpfully, “Something I can dance to.”

Kira bit her lip, contemplating. Clearly she wasn’t going to get a more specific answer, and Malia was beginning to tap her fingers impatiently.

Kira returned to the Beethoven number she had been practicing, starting from the beginning again. She kept her eyes on the music, trying to focus on the notes on the page and not the sounds of Malia’s movement and the flashes of her body in Kira’s periphery.

As she settled into the song, everything else began to fade away, as it always did when she played. Soon, she barely needed to look at the music. She had been playing the song all afternoon, and it was slowly becoming second nature.

She was halfway through the piece when she remembered Malia, and she couldn’t help but glance up, even as her fingers kept playing.

Kira didn’t know enough about a ballet to put names to Malia’s movements, but god, she swore no one else could do them quite the same way that Malia could.

When Malia moved, Kira couldn’t help but stare, entrapped, eyes following every slight twitch of her body.

“Why’d you stop?” Malia said suddenly, herself stopping.

Kira hadn’t even noticed that she had stopped, but, sure enough, her hands were frozen, violin resting on her shoulder. “Sorry, I-“ Kira mumbled.

“I didn’t know you were so good.” Malia interrupted. She walked over to Kira and leaned forward, resting her elbows on Kira’s music stand. “I had heard you were good, but I thought you said the viola was squeaky or whatever.”

Kira shrugged, sure that her cheeks were turning pink. Malia thought she sounded good? She didn’t think Malia cared about music, other than dancing to it. “I think it does, but, uh, thanks.”

“Keep playing,” Malia said, still leaning on the stand, “finish the song.”

“Are you gonna keep dancing?” Kira asked.

Malia shook her head, “I want to listen. Come on, you’ve got to watch me dance before.”

“Oh.” Playing with Malia dancing was one thing, but Kira wasn’t sure if she could focus with Malia right in front of her, staring right at her.

Malia seemed to sense Kira’s hesitance. “Come on, I’ll close my eyes.” She clamped her eyes shut to prove her point, and then further covered them with her hands. “See? Pretend I’m not here.”

Kira took a deep breath, finding her place in the music. Okay. It was just Malia.

“Any time now.” Malia said unhelpfully.

Trying to focus on her music, and not Malia watching- well, listening- to her, Kira resumed playing. Soon, again, she sunk into it, and Malia seemed to fade away.

It wasn’t until she finished the piece that Kira looked up at Malia again. Malia still at her eyes closed, as promised, and a small smile was spread across her face. Kira realized she had never seen Malia smile like that.

She wondered if that was how she looked when she watched Malia dance.

“That’s it.” Kira said, and Malia uncovered her eyes.

“Wow.” Malia said.

“Wow?”

Malia stepped around the music stand, and then leaned forward and pressed a kiss on Kira’s lips.

There was the same fire as always, and then, too soon as always, they pulled apart.

“Wow.” Kira repeated.

Malia smiled. “You know what?”

Kira braced herself. “What?”

“You should plan our next date.” Malia said. She cocked her head “Our first date?”

“Me?” Kira asked. She had never planned a date before. She wasn’t sure where she would even start. Dinner? A movie? She would have to asked Allison.

“Yup.” Malia said, “I planned the first one, so it’s only fair.”

Kira could’ve argued that it wasn’t a real date so it didn’t really count, but somehow she felt that would be pointless. “Okay. Yeah, okay.”

“Okay.” Malia repeated. “I can’t wait to see what you think a good time is.”

“Don’t get your hopes up.” Kira muttered. God, she was definitely going to have to talk to Allison. She had no idea how to plan a date. She rarely even went off campus. What could she possibly come up with that would entertain Malia Tate?

“Too late.” Malia said, and then kissed her again, and suddenly Kira wasn’t worrying about date planning, because all she could think about were the fireworks going off in her head.


	8. if you're going my way, i wanna drive it all night long

By the end of the week, the whole school seemed to know about Kira and Malia. Everyone ate up the news of anything Malia Tate related like they always did. Allison had informed Kira there was already a significant betting pool about how long they would last, and another about how it would end. (Allison had announced “I gave you guys six months”, to which Kira had replied “You should see someone about your gambling addiction.”)

Malia didn’t seem to mind, which wasn’t surprising, since she was used to being the school cryptid. And Kira, well, she was taking it better than she had expected to.

Sure, she was getting more stares in the hall than she was used to, but she still went to class and practiced violin without interrupting, just like usual.

For some reason, Kira had expected her life to drastically change if she said yes to Malia. She had spent so much time stressing about it, and yet, the world was still spinning.

And she still had to take Malia on a date Friday night.

“You look great.” Allison said, startling Kira from where she had been staring in the mirror.

“Thanks.” Kira said, shaking her head. Since when did she stare in the mirror? She wasn’t that person.

“She’s going to love what you have planned.” Allison added.

“I hope so.” Kira muttered.

“She will.” Allison repeated. “And again, you look great.”

Kira smiled. “You’re a great roommate.”

“I know.” Allison tossed Kira her purse, “Now go sweep her off her feet.”

 

Kira stole a glance at Malia over the top of her menu.

Her foot was tapping anxiously against the floor. Why was she so nervous? Her and Malia were together now.

Maybe it was just that she had never been on a serious date before. Especially one that she’d planned.

“What’s good here?” Malia piped up, breaking the silence.

Kira glance over her menu. “The avocado chicken salad is-“

“Of course you’re a salad person.” Malia interrupted. “Does this place have burgers?”

“I don’t think so.” Kira muttered. Maybe taking Malia to her favorite restaurant was a bad idea. “We can go to a different restaurant if you want.”

Malia shook her head. “No, this looks great.” She reached across the table and took Kira’s hand, immediately making Kira’s cheeks flush pink. “You worry too much.”

“I’m sorry.” Kira mumbled.

“You apologize too much too.” Malia said, smiling at Kira.

“I’m sor-“ Kira began, and then cut herself off. Malia laughed.

The waitress returned to their table at that moment. “Are you guys ready to order?”

Kira looked to Malia to ask if she was ready, but Malia had already begun talking.

“We’ll have the nachos to start. Hold the guac.” She looked up at Kira, “Or do you want the guac on the side?”

Kira shook her head.

“Good.” Malia said, “Avocado is disgusting hipster garbage. “ She looked back to the waitress. “And I’ll have the macaroni and cheese and I’ll add chicken, please.”

The waitress looked to Kira, who said “I’ll have the same please.”

Malia raised an eyebrow.

“I’m branching out.” Kira said.

Malia smiled. “Oh, you have a wild side. I like it.”

Kira let out a small laugh.

“So what do you have planned after this?” Malia asked, twirling her straw around her cup of water.

“It’s a surprise.” Kira said. She wasn’t going to put all of her cards on the table yet.

Malia’s eyes lit up. “You’re just full of surprised, Viola.”

Kira scrunched up her nose. “If you’re my girlfriend now, shouldn’t you know what instrument I play?”

Malia took a gulp of her water, “Nope.”

The waitress swung by and placed a heaping pile of nachos between the two of them, and Kira had to admit that they looked delicious.

Malia took a chip loaded with cheese and salsa and shoved it in her mouth, dribbling sour cream down her chin. Kira took a daintier bite of her own chip, holding her hand under it to stop cheese from dripping onto the tablecloth.

“These are amazing.” Malia said, mouth half full of nacho. “I love this restaurant now.”

Kira smiled, “I’m glad.”

They managed to wolf down to rest of the nachos in record time, although Malia made a mess (Kira wasn’t sure Malia could eat anything without making a mess).

“You have a little cheese-“ Kira warned, gesturing to Malia’s chin.

“Do you want to get it for me?” Malia asked with a smirk.

Kira blushed, but picked up her napkin, reached across the table, and gently wiped the cheese off Malia’s chin.

“I got it.” Kira said.

“Thank you.” Malia replied.

There was silence for a few seconds as Malia scraped crumbs off the nacho plate.

“Tell me something about yourself.” Kira blurted out, before she could help herself.

“Hmm?” Malia paused from licking cheese off of her finger.

“I told you about my violin and my dad,” Kira said, “But I don’t know anything about you, and if we’re a thing now, I need to know some things.” She thought it was a perfectly reasonably request, but it made her feet tap faster anyway.

It was true though; she did want to know more about Malia. She had heard so many rumors, and had spent way too much time guessing as to which were true. It was about time she stopped believing anything she didn’t hear from Malia herself.

Malia considered the request for a minute. “You know that I’m hot and love nachos. And pretty girls.”

Kira rolled her eyes. “Never mind.” Maybe Malia wasn’t ready to talk about her life. She should’ve waited for their second (third? she wasn’t sure what counted and what didn’t at this point) date.

Before Kira could try to gracefully change the subject, Malia piped up.

“I’m adopted, I live with my dad in a town a few hours from here, and I only watch movies with explosions.”

Somehow, Kira suspected that Malia didn’t tell a lot of people about herself, and that made Kira’s heart beat a little faster. Maybe Malia trusted her, at least a little bit. “How big does the explosion have to be?”

“Any explosion will do, but the intensity of the explosion is directly proportional to how much attention I’m paying.” Malia smiled, “Did you hear that? I used a math term just for you.”

Kira laughed. “You used it correctly too. Who says you’re bad at math?”

“Oh, I am definitely bad at math, Viola.” Malia said. She narrowed her eyes at Kira. “What are you bad at? There has to be something. Besides having fun, of course.”

“There are plenty of things I’m bad at.” Kira said. There definitely were. Relaxing. Talking to new people. Understanding Shakespeare.

“Name one.” Malia said indignantly.

“Dancing.” Kira blurted out. It was the first thing that had popped into her head while she was looking at Malia.

“Pssh,” Malia made a dismissive gesture, “Dancing is easy.”

“Easy?” Kira shook her head, “No way.”

“Easy.” Malia repeated. “Come on, I’ll teach you. Right now.” Malia began to push her own chair out.

“We’re in a restaurant.” Kira said quickly. She glanced around at that many people surrounding them. Nope, even with Malia’s influence, she could not be that impulsive. “In public.”

“So?” Malia said, “There’s enough room to learn a few steps.”

Kira wasn’t even sure how to respond to that. Luckily, she was saved by the waitress returning with their entrees.

“I guess you’ll have to show me later.” Kira said, trying not to sound too relieved.

“Later tonight?” Malia pressed.

Kira shook her head. “I have plans, remember?”

“Right, sorry.” Malia took a bite of her meal. “I’m sure they’re great plans.”

Kira smiled. “I hope so.”

 

“Damn, Viola, I didn’t think you had it in you.” Malia muttered, her face breaking into a smile.

Kira felt herself blushing, “So you like it?”

“This is going to be so much fun.” Malia said, grabbing Kira’s hand and dragging her closer to the go-kart track. “I hope you’re ready to loose thought. I’m killer at these, and I don’t let anyone win. Even pretty girls. Plus, you drive like a grandma.”

“I follow speed limits,” Kira pointed out, the _and you definitely don’t_ left implied, “but there’s no speed limits to worry about here.”

“Ooh, are you saying you’re going to beat me?” Malia teased, “That’s bold.”

Kira returned her smile, “Don’t underestimate me.”

“I’m estimating you perfectly.” Malia shot back, as Kira paid for a round of go-karts for both of them.

Screaming kids in go-kart whizzed passed as they filed into the line.

Malia leaned against the railing, and Kira leaned next to her.

“So,” Kira asked, “Are you excited for Thanksgiving break next week?”

Malia shrugged, “Are you?”

Kira nodded. “My parents miss me, and I miss them too. And they love Thanksgiving. I mean, they don’t care about turkey or pilgrims or football, but we spend all day cooking a big meal together and last year Allison and her dad came over and ate with us.” Kira smiled at the memory. “What are your plans?”

Malia shrugged again, “Hang out, have the dorm all to myself, pretend to catch up on homework.”

“Wait,” Kira said, “You’re staying on campus? And Lydia’s not even going to be there?”

“My dad and I don’t do Thanksgiving.” Malia explained, “So no point. He’s working all week anyway.”

Kira frowned. “Come over to my house for Thanksgiving dinner then.” The words flew out of her mouth before she could even think about them. God, did she just ask Malia to meet her parents? Her parents who didn’t even know Malia existed?

“It’s okay.” Malia crossed her arms; “I have a gourmet Thanksgiving dinner planned, featuring everything in the vending machine on my hall.”

Kira knew she had an out for the incredibly stupid decision she had just made, and yet she wasn’t going to take it. Introducing Malia to her parents was a terrible, awful, terrifying idea, but still less terrible than the thought of Malia sitting alone on campus, eating her weight in candy bars and chips. “No, I insist. My parents will cook way too much food anyways, and Allison and her dad insist that they’re bringing a dish this year.”

“I like vending machine food and being alone in my dorm.” Malia responded. “I don’t need to bug your family.”

“You wouldn’t be bugging us.” Kira tried to insist, but Malia shook her head.

“You don’t have to.” Malia said, “Really.”

“I want to.” Kira repeated.

The race before them had finished, and now the few people in front of them were loading into go-karts.

Kira was struck with an idea. “How about a bet?”

Malia perked up. “I’m interested.”

“If I beat you at go-karts, you, and your dad, if he wants, come to my house for Thanksgiving dinner.”

Malia smiled, “And when I beat you at go-karts?”

Kira shrugged, “I’ll leave you to your vending machine.”

“And?”

Kira bit her lip, “What do you want?”

Malia stroked her chin, before a smirk spread across her face. “You let me take you on another motorcycle ride. When I win.”

The go-kart attendant was gesturing for them to get in their karts, so Kira didn’t have time to think about it.

“Deal.” Kira said, holding out her hand.

Malia shook it. “Deal. Dibs on the red one!”

Kira took her place in a royal blue kart labeled as #15. The stoplight at the end of starting lane turned green, and Kira pressed down on the accelerator, her go-kart jerking forward.

Kira kept her foot down on the accelerator, trying to weave around the other karts, but Malia was already in the lead.

“How?” Kira mumbled to herself. She was going to win. Malia wasn’t unbeatable just because she drove like a maniac.

Kira rounded the first bend carefully. Maybe Malia would spin out and she’d get lucky.

One lap in, Kira was still near the middle of the pack, and Malia was still out ahead. Kira cursed under her breath.

Up ahead, a (probably drunk) college guy slammed his car into the back of Malia’s, driving her into the wall.

Malia flipped him her middle finger, “It’s not fucking bumper cars, asshat!”

He yelled something back, and the track attendant yelled something that Kira couldn’t make out.

Kira felt a little bad for Malia, but she still took advantage of the situation to fly past Malia, shooting her a grin as she did.

Malia flipped her the finger too.

Kira was barely halfway down the next stretch when Malia pulled up next to her, stuck her tongue out, and then shot ahead.

Kira gritted her teeth and pushed down on the accelerator, mumbling encouragement to herself. Her kart shot forward, until she was right on Malia’s tail.

Malia glanced over her shoulder, “Eat my exhaust, Viola!”

They rounded the next corner, and Kira cut inside of Malia, barely squeezing between Malia’s kart and the wall, but managing to pull ahead of Malia.

Kira stuck close to the wall, pushing the kart as fast as it could go. She didn’t take the time to look, but she could tell Malia was right behind her.

Kira kept her lead as they finished the second lap, but soon after she skidded too close to the wall and Malia pulled ahead, shooting Kira an infuriating smirk as she did.

Kira rode Malia’s tail until the last stretch, trying, and subsequently failing, repeatedly to pull ahead again.

It wasn’t until the finish line was in sight that Kira got her chance. She eased off the accelerator enough to fall a bit behind, and then shoved it down again, slamming into the back corner of Malia’s kart. It wasn’t enough force for Malia to spin out, but she was startled enough for Kira to pull ahead, and cruise over the finish line.

Malia crossed the finish line moments after Kira, and they both parked their go-karts along the curb and got out.

Kira was grinning from ear to ear. She couldn’t help it. “I won.”

Surprisingly, Malia was smiling a little bit. “You played dirty.” She lightly punched Kira’s shoulder. “I’m proud, Viola. I didn’t think you had it in you.”

Kira raised an eyebrow. “You’re not mad?”

“Of course not,” Malia replied, “I’ll get you back for it.”

Kira’s grin grew. “After you pack your bag for Thanksgiving, of course.”

Malia bit her lip at that, and Kira figured Malia had been hoping she’d forget about the bet. She was afraid Malia would try to argue, but then, Malia smiled again instead. “Of course.”


End file.
